#underrated comedy trio right here

[italoniponic]

I was literally messing around and ended up creating such a wholesome scene

also, what a nightmare to arrange them in their correct heights and proportions in relation to each other (yes, Silver and Epel are pngs thrown into Jack's card bc my wolf boy here is the only one without a png version </3) I still think they're just roughly realistic-ish

[deadite-central]

GOD I LOVE THRILLER BARK. Such a good arc that’s so hated by parts of the community and I can't understand whyyyyyyy I'll try to get across what I love about it so much as I think it's criminally underrated, even if I don't think I can do it justice

What I find absolutely lovely in Brooks introduction is that it's really funny how we've been getting weirder and weirder people joining the crew ever since we got into the grandline and Brook is a literal skeleton with an afro. Luffy loves this guy. But unlike the creatures of Thriller Bark, Brook isn't just here for laughs. He is his own person with his own hardships and we quickly learn that he's living a pretty miserable life right now. And yet he keeps singing happily through it. It’s obvious the Straw Hats will help him.

 Once the crew is on thriller bark, we quickly split, with the coward trio getting into shenanigans while the others go look for them and Brook’s shadow. Along the way we find out that doctor Hogback, a doctor that chopper really really admires is on this island. This kickstarts a “don’t always meet your heros” arc for Chopper, one which really resonated with me for a bunch of reasons

I will get back to that later, but I wanna mention just how good the comedy is in this arc. There are so many good jokes!! But one of my favorites has gotta be the negative hollows. Peronas power is just hilarious. It can render anybody useless no matter how high their spirits are. Well everybody except for one person

Also oh boy we're finally introduced to Gecko Moria, one of THE SEVEN WARLORDS OF THE SEA. Every single warlord that we've met so far has been a formidable foe or a person shrouded in mystery, so when we see Moria, towering over everyone, it's terrifying. We know it’ll be hard to defeat him. His power is also really creative. Being able to manipulate shadows is genuinely such a well-executed idea here.

When Moria takes away the monster trios shadows we’re a bit screwed, having to not only retrieve Brook’s but also theirs now. But it also leads to another outstanding comedy moment

Things are set back into motion again, and going back to what I mentioned before about Chopper’s mini arc, Hogback turns out to be a disgusting person who only uses his medical knowledge to get what he wants. He was obsessed with the beauty of a woman so much that he was willing to turn her dead body into a mindless puppet. He, alongside Moria, make a mockery of life, of humanity, by creating the zombies, and Chopper, someone so passionate about saving lives, will not stand by to watch this. He no longer sees Hogback as his hero. He no longer sees him as a doctor. He sees him as the vile monster this man is.

[itsthenovelteafactor]

TV Shows Roundup: Jan - June

AKA every show I watched in the first half of 2024. I’ve been wanted to keep better track of my own viewing habits and thought it’d be fun to keep a running list with mini reviews. might do a tier list at the end of the year if I end up having enough. Curious what y’all have been watching/if you have any recommendations!

about 12 shows here which sounds like a lot but in my defense, there are a lot with one one season (currently!! we are manifesting some renewals here)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (season one):

Full transparency: I was not watching this show. 12 year old me who was obsessed with Percy Jackson, knew who her godly parent would be, and acted out sword fights with her siblings, was watching this show. She has no complaints. School Spirits (season one):

As soon as I heard the premise of this show I was on board, but it ended up delivering even more than I expected. The mystery was interesting and I felt like I received information at the exact right pace, the ghosts made a very charming undead-breakfast club and the characters in general were very compelling. Whoever put that Phoebe Bridgers song at the end of episode 1 deserves and Emmy and I’m not kidding. Loki (season 2):

I’ve fallen out with the MCU as a whole, but this show brought me back for season 2. I appreciate how it stands on its own as a series with its own characters, worldbuilding, and story that doesn’t require I watch 15 movies and 2 shows to comprehend. This season leaned into the wacky scifi time trace shenanigans in a way that reminded me of Doctor Who at times. The ending made me unexpectedly emotional. The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself (season 1):

Okay, I liked the first couple episodes of this but once the main trio of Nathan, Annalise, and Gabriel were together it was *electric*. I loved how gorey and dark it wasn’t afraid to get and the characters played off each other so well. I’m devastated we won’t get to see more of these guys because despite the fast pacing of the show, you really grow to love these characters. Lockwood and Co (season one, rewatch):

Just as good the second time! Truly a masterfully done show; the worldbuilding, mysteries, and aesthetic are top notch but what sells it are the characters and their relationships to each other. There really is something incredibly comforting about this show for me, I keep coming back to Portland Row and the people who live there. The fact that we did not get to see later books in the series adapted is a tragedy.

Fleabag (seasons one and two):

This is just smartly done comedy with characters whose dysfunction manages to feel a little too familiar. I loved the shades of the stage play peeking through - there is a theatrical feel to the show overall that I love - and despite its cynicism, this show has a beating heart that occasionally hits you across the face. Basically everything they say about this one is true.

Doom Patrol (seasons three and four):

I will admit, season three (minus the DVDA) episode, felt very slow to me, but season four was an excellent return to form. It’s strange, bordering on absurdist, and flits between comedy and horror at a dizzying speed. This show is an underrated gem and truly one of a kind.

Cracow Monsters (season one):

This show is beautiful; its color scheme, setting, and camera work are immersive and feel like wandering down rainy cobblestoned streets. The story took a while to pick up, but the horror elements were very well done. I wish we’d spent a bit more time with the other students, as they all seemed like interesting characters in their own right. I loved the mythology, and folkloric inspiration.

The Artful Dodger (season one):

It’s a period drama, it’s a medical show, it’s a heist, it’s inspired by Charles Dickens. This show is utterly delightful and thoroughly engrossing. I suspected I would enjoy it from the concept alone, but there is just something completely charming about it start to finish I could not get out of my head.

Dead Boy Detectives (season one):

So…this show took over my brain. The world here is populated by dynamic and fascinating characters and the case of the week format allows for the chance to see them shine in different situations. It somehow balances the absurd, the macabre, and the heartfelt and once it finds its footing does not let up. It’s smart, eccentric, and basically candy for the kind of person who loves over analyzing the actions of fictional characters (me).

Hannibal (season 3):

Had to wait for this to come back on Amazon to finish and it did not disappoint. First half of the season was slower, but I really enjoyed the gothic castle sections. Second half was Red Dragon, which was really cool with these versions of the characters. A wholly satisfying (and appropriately morbid) conclusion to the series.

Andor (season 1)

People have been telling me to watch this and that I’d love it since it came out and they were all correct. There was so much more thought and care put into the depiction of life under an oppressive government and I expected and even if I wasn’t a Star Wars fan, the story is gripping and beautifully shot on its own. Because I *am* a Star Wars fan, it’s even better.

[elliegoestodownton]

Ho postato 1.492 volte nel 2022

Sono 194 post in più del 2021!

339 post creati (23%)

1.153 post rebloggati (77%)

Blog che ho rebloggato di più:

@gregorygerwitz

@fighterkimburgess

@madeline-kahn

@ballroompink

@somosinevitables

Ho taggato 1.440 dei miei post nel 2022

Solo 3% dei miei post non aveva tag

#chicago fire - 296 post

#chicago pd - 235 post

#trudy platt - 155 post

#randy mouch mcholland - 121 post

#movies - 111 post

#kim burgess - 102 post

#pretties - 98 post

#adam ruzek - 82 post

#stella kidd - 61 post

#fanfic rec - 60 post

Longest Tag: 120 characters

#not me trying to figure out if some ships would be compatible based on astrology according to very vague info been given

I miei post migliori nel 2022:

#5

Let’s stop for a second and fully appreciate the face that Violet makes the first time she sees Hawkins. Like a kid in front of a yummy snack.

12 note - Postate 20 agosto 2022

#4

Honestly pissed off at Netflix right now as they cancelled The Babysitters Club. 😭😭😭 That show gave me so much joy in two seasons and they did an honestly brilliant job in adapting the books, one of my fave reads while growing up, and making the stories relevant to the present. It was SO GOOD.

And now no more heartwarming stories about the BSC. And mostly how dare they cancel it before Richard and Sharon, my awkward babies, could get married on screen??? Imagine that. I will forever treasure their perfect clumsiness. And the girls’ costumes. I will treasure those too because fashion!

If you haven’t watched it, go catch up with it.

12 note - Postate 12 marzo 2022

#3

Stella greeting Trudy with “Hey Lady!” on the phone. That’s everything I needed for this week.

13 note - Postate 13 ottobre 2022

#2

A few hours to S11 to here’s my wishlist for Fire 🔥🔥🔥

No drama for Stellaride. Just let them be hot and happy.

Ritter to have a real storyline and not just play the BFF on the sidelines. He is a great character, who has grown a lot even in the little time he is afforded to be explored and has great potential to be developed even more. He needs to.

I love Violet, she’s a badass and I would love for them to write her not just as a love interest but as she science nerd kickass woman she is in relation to her career.

Javi to be officially adopted by Cruz and Chloe with no drama. He fits with the family, he’s happy, so don’t come up with the aunt who comes back from the dead to reclaim him!

I expect nothing less than some shenanigans from Mouch and Herrmann, better halves friend version. Let them be their usual lovable and cranky selves and I’ll be happy.

More of Capp and Tony, underrated comedy duo.

Papa Boden. That’s the tweet.

With Kylie keeping him in check.

I love the chaotic trio of youngsters and their friendship. It would be great to see them continue working together on business plans without the Gallo/Violet thing in the middle.

I will sincerely miss Tuesday, my best girl. 💕😭 I hope that if is she is gone narratively as well, they will find a way to honor her sweet furry memory.

I have come to appreciate Seager towards the end of S10 and you know what would be great? To see her budding friendship of sorts with Stella develop a bit rather than her playing the third wheel.

A guest appearance by Pelham, my beloved.

I’m still waiting for a The Real Housewives of 51© (Trudy, Donna and Cindy) wine night because that would be absolutely hilarious, highly gossipy and slightly filthy. But we all know it’s not gonna happen. You read it here first, though.

I’m also still waiting for a Trudy vs Herrmann over Molly’s but I have lost hope there. This would be also hilarious.

I would gladly accept a game night on screen in exchange.

21 note - Postate 21 settembre 2022

Il mio post numero 1 del 2022

Diane and Kurt

Thanks for the ask!

Who said “I love you” first: Not in those exact same words, but canonically it was Kurt. I think he was the one to also utter ILY first later on as Diane probably needed a bit more time and reassurance.

Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background: Kurt even though it took him ages to switch to a smatphone because you know the man. I imagine that if she has a non-work phone, Diane also has a picture there with quite the gallery from their dates and vacays.

Who leaves notes written in fog on the bathroom mirror: Diane would totally leave sweet and ironic stuff on the mirror for her fave cowboy to see. The word cowboy might actually feature in those messages as well.

Who buys the other cheesy gifts: Hands down Diane. But they both have a good track record of cheesy gifts, as we know.

Who initiated the first kiss: Again, canonically Kurt. Not that she minded one bit.

Who kisses the other awake in the morning: I feel Diane peppers his face with kisses in those instances when he is still sleeping.

Who starts tickle fights: Kurt because he loves her laugh.

Who asks who if they can join the other in the shower: I think they might take turns there. Probably Diane does this more often than he does.

Who surprises the other in the middle of the day at work with lunch: Kurt. Because Diane never leaves work 🤣

Who was nervous and shy on the first date: She was definitely the most nervous of the two, trying to babble her way through the date and fill the silence also to avoid hearing her brain and her ancestors telling her that it was a very bad idea.

Who kills/takes out the spiders: Kurt gently takes them out as the good country boy he is. Diane is not a fan.

Who loudly proclaims their love when they’re drunk: Oooh, Diane probably gets tipsy a bit more easily but I feel that Kurt would be the one yelling it from the rooftops when really drunk.

31 note - Postate 27 febbraio 2022

Guarda ora l'Analisi del tuo anno 2022 di Tumblr →

[tottymatsuno]

💕🎭🎮🔥☘🌚📚

Hiiii dragon my beloved bestie

💕 - my favorite Matsuno duos are any and all tottie involved ones but also parka, chokei, wakaba, and I forget what karama and Jyushis duo is but there was a post that called them meat heads united!

Here are my favorite tottie duos lol

Parka is so funny to me bc they're literally a raccoon and a kitty cat hanging out and getting into mischief and also Osomatsu calms Ichimatsu down and they're friends

Chokei is also funny bc like the two of them are constantly taking pot shots at each other but also vibe and love getting along and double teaming their brothers. They are a good team and also their beef is so funny fhwhfhd

Wakaba - I just love seeing Jyushimatsu throw Choromatsu and bite him lol

And Karamatsu and Jyushimatsu are sooo! Who could forget the iconic oh my little Jyushimatsu!!?!

🎭 - my favorite au within the show (immediately thinks of my banana tottimi wife but knows it's illegal to do the same joke twice)

Does this count??? Technically it's an alternate time line! I like most of the skits but tbh I think I'm more invested in hesokuri designs. Not that I hate them, just aside from the Banana one I can't think of an au that screams my favorite.

🎮 SPEAKING OF HESOKURI MY FAVORITE SET AUGH don't make me pick just one!! It changes so often!!!

If it's illegal to pick mroe than one this one but I'm crying and begging to let me pick all 200 of my favorites 😭😭😭

🔥 An aspect of the show that I think is underrated is definitely fleshing out the secondary cast? With one writer on staff you can clearly see when he gets bored of characters or can't find anything funny to say about them. So when that happens characters like Chibita, Totoko, Iyami and others (who I kinda don't really like but def feel like they're entertaining as an ensemble) are thrown to the wayside when they could provide a lot more comedy.

Idk what emoji this one is and can't find it but! A matsu trio I'd like to see more of is:

OTOUTO!!! THEY'RE MY FRIENDS!! sans Todomatsu it'd be

These three. Suuji + Osomatsu is so hilarious to me. Also pardon totty 😭

🌚 Something I want to happen in the show that I'm sure never will happen? Uuh. Well the low hanging fruit is getting to kiss Totty. The serious answer is seeing the brothers in success relationships, growing up and becoming happier for it. And me kissing Totoko.

📚

SOME OF MY FAVORITE FICS YOU ASK??!

Dropping links lol

your totty kissing fic <3 and I love your writing in general!

It was so sweet and had the right amount of push and pull, and AUGH!

I've only read a few chapters of your Jyushihomu sandwich One or the Other but it's so fucking unique and good Dragon! The fact Jyushimatsu meets the reader by hitting the reader with a baseball, and Ichi panicking sbfbsn

@itchymatsu has a bunch of amazing stuff on ao3 too! Her new work Somebody's somebody is so delicious for self inserters, ichi kissers never eat so fucking good when Brittany writes.

@nicetoneetyou has a fantastic fic with his oc Takeshi too that makes me beat the fucking ground bc he HASN'T UPDATED IT AUGH

@girlymatsu has been favoring me with the privilege of reading his delicious writing for a while (yes it is exclusive, yes I am that special ☺️) and has posted a fic of Osoeri on ao3! He's mega talented, and I am obsessed with his recovery fics! He has made me cry with his little red riding hood imagery, if you ain't in the know I feel a bit sorry for you bc it's so damn good. It's powerful, it's emotional and impactful. You can read it exactly like you'd see it because of Evans skillful work. It's so fucking good

Speaking of recovery aus @chorotchi has an amazing one! Greens There She Is literally made me fucking cry. The Omurice series is literally the best trans girl choro content on the scene. Don't walk lol run. It's so good, and ik Viri's working on a really great yokai au! And just started greens actual fic for recovery Choro!

@ichikos is also like a fucking stellar writer, idk if Izzys posted much of it yet but deadass is my biggest inspiration and rock when it comes to creative exchanges. Izzys writing is so good, the way she sees Ichimatsu and how delicately she keeps his fangs bared but him sweet? aurgh. You guys gotta see the meals I be snacking on when Izzy sends me over a doc.

@chockmatsu has her Squeeze With Both Hands fic that's so professional quality. It's so good, you could read it in a novella or a anthology and wouldnt guess it was fic at all. Literally a masterpiece, like all Karamatsu stans it's heavenly so yall want for fucking nothing in terms of quality content. Five course meal right there.

@lesbiabmatsu not only has this cute ask blog for girl gays but also is a writer that will knock your fucking socks off!! Her ocs are so adorable, funny, charming and all are so compatible with her characters!! Bibi is my bestie from kindergarten, Inko is my new friend who breaks my bfs arm when he makes me cry and Totty is sandwiched between me and Suzu's fine ass. When I get to read her writing it's always a special and rare treat because Clover can and does write her fucking ass off in those documents. Makes me scream each time, trans karama lovers better line up bc there's no getting better than my girls sweet writing

And @emeraldhillrose!!! GREEN RECENTLY SHOWED ME HER FUCKING WRITING AND I WAS BLOWN AWAY!! I LITERALLY LOVE HER OC SEXTUPLETS, AND NOT ONLY THAT HER ELDEST OC SEXTUPLET ROSEMARY IS THE CUTEST, MOST ADORABLE TSUNDERE TO EVER WALK THOSE AKATSUKA STREETS!! I read two last night and burst into tears bc Rosemary had a rough day but then Osomatsu helped her out in the sweetest fucking way possible.

@ochomachuu - while not a fic writer I gotta mention Mei. My fucking rock, she is the smartest person I know and so damn talented. Her meta analysis and the way she sees the brothers is so unique. I love Mei sooo much, she's the 7th Matsuno she's their sister she lives with them. Yall know her for her art and for her talent and for her brain and smarts but do u know her for her heart? Hm? ❤️

If i forgot anyone so sorry but read my friends works they're all so smart and funny and they will make you feel emotions.

[theheightofdishonor]

Teen Wolf triads are something that can be so personal, so here’s a list of my faves 

Scott/Stiles/Allison

The OG trio. The gang that dies together might not stay together, but they’re still iconic.

Scott/Stiles/Lydia

Any Scott/Stiles/X dynamic is brilliant, but few more than this one. These three have been there since the beginning and they’ve gone through so much together. There’s no Teen Wolf without them. 

Scott/Stiles/Derek

They were the driving force in S1&2 and had some absolutely iconic moments together. Hate that there wasn’t more of them after that. 

Scott/Derek/Isaac 

Mostly based on S2/3. I was very invested in Isaac’s struggle to pick between these two. 

Scott/Stiles/Isaac

This triad’s dynamic completely changes between S2 and 3. In Season 2, Isaac, as part of Derek’s pack is a slightly antagonistic figure and it’s very much Scott&Stiles vs Isaac but in S3, Scott and Isaac grow closer while Isaac and Stiles erm, don’t. It’s very fun to watch. 

Scott/Isaac/Allison

My ot3 and the only trio on this list that I 100% ship. 

Isaac/Erica/Boyd

Ayy, it’s the OG Hale Pack aka 3 teens bonding over being thrown headfirst into something they weren’t prepared for and Derek’s horrible leadership. Isaac should’ve ran away with Erica and Boyd for solidarity’s sake. 

Chris/Allison/Isaac

Chris’s struggle between hating Isaac for dating his daughter and wanting to adopt him is hilarious. One of my favourites. 

Scott/Melissa/Isaac

 Who didn’t completely melt at Isaac joining the McCall fam? The scene where they’re ‘guarding’ Melissa was so cute. As a bonus, it made Stiles’s animosity towards Isaac that much stronger. Will forever hate that this trio was more or less non-existent in 3b even though I love Chris/Allison/Isaac. 

Derek/Cora/Peter

The non-dead Hales. Why oh why did Cora have to leave? Their family dynamic was great. 

Allison/Lydia/Cora

I know they only had a couple scenes as a triad, but there was so potential. We love antagonism with underlying sexual tension. And ofc, the only thing better than 1 terrifying badass that can secretly be super sweet is 3 terrifying badasses. 

Derek/Isaac/Boyd

At one point, the only non-dead members of the Hale Pack (TW quickly amended that). I always think of the S3a Loft scene where Boyd and Isaac skip school to protect Derek. Despite how awful of an alpha Derek’s been, they still care about him and he cares about them (as actual people and not just betas that he needs for power like he did originally)

Derek/Allison/Lydia. 

Yes it’s my 5th s3 based trio in a row, but can you blame me? This is 100% based off the classroom scene in 3x02. 

Allison/Lydia/Jackson

Although Lydia and Jackson were both awful in S1, their friendship with Allison and their immediately taking her under their wing was beyond precious. Additionally, it combines both the asshole-who’s-soft-towards-1-person- dynamic (jydia w/ allison) and assholes-who-secretly-care-about-each-other (jydia) And ofc, the underlying tension due to Jydia’s disdain towards Scott and later, Jackson and Allison’s experiences/knowledge of the supernatural. 

Malia/Kira/Lydia

Comedy gold. Their scenes speak for themselves and we needed more. 

Liam/Mason/Corey

Their S6a dynamic is sooo underrated and should’ve been given more screen time. I loved watching Liam and Corey struggle to get along for Mason’s sake because they want him to be happy. It was all very wholesome and one of the few things that made 6a worth watching. 

Stiles/Scott/Liam

Aka the best part of S4.Their dynamic is so fun and well-balanced and infinitely better because they’re a triad. You’ve got Scott and Liam figuring out their mentor/mentee relationship with Stiles co-parenting and preventing the Scott/Liam dynamic from turning unhealthy. (Liam and Scott’s S6 dynamic veered way too close to parent/child for my taste. They need Stiles to balance it out) It’s also hilarious how quickly Liam accepts being aggressively adopted by two idiots who are barely older than him. And Stiles takes so easily to playing older brother/co-parent. It’s adorable. They’re adorable. 

Erica/Allison/Lydia 

Very similar dynamic to Allison/Lydia/Cora due to Cora and Erica’s similar personalities but also not, which has a lot to do with Allison and Lydia’s reactions to Erica’s weaponized feminity. Also, there’s a lot more history between these girls and I want to know everything about what Erica thinks of Lydia after going to school with her for years. 

Sherriff/Melissa/Chris 

Of the top of my head, I can only remember that time where they were trapped under the Nemeton and that’s simply unacceptable. 

Sheriff/Noshiko/Melissa. 

It’s a crime that this triad never got scenes. Especially after the Sheriff tried to arrest Kira. I know Melissa bitch slapped him but I wanted to watch these two badasses gang up on the Sheriff together. ( the Noshiko/Melissa dynamic would be so iconic.) 

Victoria/Noshiko/Melissa

Another triad that never shared scenes (obviously because Vic is dead) but their power would’ve been off the charts. I want to make a joke about milfs, but I’ll refrain. 

The Yukimura fam

Seemed appropriate since my last two also included. Noshiko.I love family dynamics and the Yukimuras are no exception. The attraction of this triad, for me, is mostly the dynamic between Kira and Noshiko and how Ken navigates between them. They’re also a trio that we didn’t see nearly enough of in S4 and 5. Like seriously, where were they? Noshiko’s on the dead pool, but she’s barely mentioned. (on a mostly unrelated note, how is the 900 yr old Kitsune worth less than a girl that just found about her kitsune powers?)

Derek/Allison/Scott

I don’t need to explain this one. The angst, the drama, Derek projecting Kate onto Allison and Allison trying to murder Derek and their evolution to reluctant allies with a good dash of Scallison and Scott navigating his own difficult relationship with Derek. Aka the complicated, tension fraught trio we all loved/should love. ( ok, I kind of explained it)

Derek/Scott/Liam 

And here we have a two for one deal; two mentor/mentee dynamics in 1 triad. People much smarter than me have written about this trio in extensive detail, so all I’m saying is that Derek’s that one uncle who occasionally comes around and gives somewhat helpful advice. 

Braeden/Malia/Scott 

Braeden and Scott were great in S4. Braeden and Malia were great in S5. Scott and Malia are pretty great when they’re not in a relationship. Combine, and you get what had to be a kick-ass triad that’s sadly never canonly shown together (I think)

Melissa/Chris/Isaac

Not actually featured in the show, but Isaac deserves all the parental figures and I want to witness the surely epic custody battle between Chris and Melissa. 

Malia/Scott/Peter

That this trio is on here is actually pretty funny because I hate both Scalia and the forced Peter/Malia bonding in S6. But I loved the scene where Peter warned Malia not to fall in love with Scott because a) he has absolutely 0 right to advise her on anything and b) because of the history between Scott and Peter. In a way, a relationship with Malia is just another thing tying Scott to someone that’s repeatedly caused harm to him and his friends and was the initial cause for all the pain he’s suffered in the last couple years. I just find this dynamic worth exploring. 

Malia/Derek/Peter

The Hales 2.0. Derek and Malia deserve to bond over unwillingly being related to Peter, that scumbag. 

Malia/Stiles/Peter

Stiles and Peter are so fun together and Stalia is my jam. Throw in an antagonistic Malia and Peter relationship and they’re entertaining as hell. Much more lighthearted than Malia/Scott/Peter.  

Stiles/Malia/Lydia 

To clarify, this has nothing to do with a love triangle and everything to do with how their personalities play off each other. It’s one of those trios where together, they’re either terrifying or absolute morons. 

Stiles/Cora/Derek

Admittedly, my version of this is very Sterek+Cora and the hilarity of Stiles and his attraction to Hales but it’s also 3x snark and you really can’t go wrong. 

Scott/Stiles/Melissa 

It’s Melissa and her boys 1.0. This woman is by far the best parent on this show, and I love the specific dynamic among these three. Melissa might not always like Stiles, but she cares about him and there’s the mutual understanding that they both adore Scott and would do anything for him. Also, Mel being exasperated by the dumbass duo is always funny.  

Kate/Allison/Chris

Lowkey another custody battle because Kate and Chris do fight to be the bigger influence on Allison This is such a tragic trio to me, and the lesson here is basically that sometimes love isn’t enough. Chris and Kate both genuinely love Allison and she loves them too but can’t have both and at some point, she has neither. Kate and Chris care about each other, but that’s not enough either. In the end, they all lose each other. There’s no happy ending for them, at least not with each other. 

Derek/Stiles/Peter

Stiles just has chemistry (not necessarily romantic) with all Hales and this trio really shines through in 3x01 and in S3 in general. “Chess is Stiles’s game” asgdhfjgh. I wanted more of that very specific dynamic. 

That was a hell lot longer than I thought it would be, but what can you do. Feel free to tell me your own opinions in the tags/comments.  

[buffywatching]

SEASON SIX!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my GOD what a wonderful amazing season.. i think this might be my favorite one in the entire series. AND I DONT TAKE THAT LIGHTLY!

at the end of season five, i said things could’ve ended there and it would’ve been alright. in some way, yeah, in other ways BOY WAS I WRONG!! this season peeled away the layers of darkness the show needed from the start and good lord did it get BOILING HOT

where to even start..

though the first episodes were kinda rocky, buffy comes back from the grave like we’ve never seen her before. interestingly enough, spike shows an insane amount of care and softness that he’s never ever shown when he first sees newly-undead-buffy, and here begins the real ship that’s been simmering for quite a while, spuffy is in full action.

we learn buffy was never really in hell. she was in heaven. heaven!!! viciously torn out of what she wanted to stay in forever. now, our girl’s gone through just about anything by this point, but this is a new type of low. so low that she does anything to try to feel something, which leads us to some INSANE spuffyage and a plot that just keeps on giving and giving, i honestly haven’t been as undeniably engrossed in any of the other arcs as i was when spuffy sleeping together was still building up. AND THEN! AND THEN!!! WILLOW GETS ADDICTED TO MAGIC.. willow!!!!!!!! tiny little rainbow sweater wearing willow gets away from life by using way too many magics. to be honest, i felt for dawn this season. she actually had every single right to feel unwanted or like she was out of the loop or like she was being ignored because.. SHE WAS! there was a time where her sister didn’t come home at night and willow didn’t care about what happened to anyone else.

so many other things… THE TRIO! thoroughly underrated. though terrible at BEING big bads, they provided a lot of comedy and actually.. did pretty devious stuff from the beginning. though talking about big bads, who knew the actual threat to the world this time would be our very own willow rosenberg. we get to see the darkest side of them possibly ever, and even through all of that the person who comes through it all is… xander? XANDER!!!!!! so many thoughts about xander. he’s grown the most out of every scooby (not counting cordy on ats..) and you can really sense it these days.

i was really looking forward to xander and anya’s wedding. if anything, i thought it would be the only thing that could go even a little right, given the circumstances. but xander was at fault for leaving her there without telling her his concerns, and it leaves you feeling a little empty. i started rooting for xander mostly after season four started, because i wanted him to get out so bad. getting technical, sunnydale and the buffyverse is just a very cursed place to exist, and even though i knew he’d stay till the very end, i was just rooting for him to have some kind of a normal life even though he’s had a lot of trauma. and to my surprise he did! he got a job! he got an apartment! and suddenly.. he was getting married!! i guess i was a little more than disappointed when they didn’t get married that day, but he ultimately proved to be a good person after literally going to sacrifice his entire being so willow could know that even through all her hate and anger, they were loved.

and spike.. oh spike. tricky one, he is. this season gave us a lot of him.. in more ways than one. he essentially is a character that goes up and down and sideways and backwards and round and round until you cant help but love the shit out of him. and then what does he do? he does something really truly terrible to buffy. and you’re left confused and wondering if you too, like buffy and dawn, might have left your guard down for too long.

this season in particular touches on the reality of things. we see a visit from child services, we see addiction, we see gun violence; humans killing humans deliberately, we see revenge, we see sexual assault. so i understand why it’s not a favorite for many, but i think it’s the heavier stuff that makes it so i can watch episode after episode after episode.

some other things that happened.. RILEY visits and it’s not the end of the world for me. it was actually really great!!!! and their closure was amazing!!!!!!

on a sadder note, the beloved tara maclay dies. genuinely gone too soon and forever remembered as the only truly good soul on the entire show. however i’m glad she died knowing she was loved and that her and willow got together beforehand, even if it did lead to the almost end of the world.

the season ends with.. SPIKE GETTING A SOUL! i was kinda creeping up on the idea with the demon being so vague and all, however i’m rejoicing at the fact that he didn’t turn human because how boring would THAT be.

on this blog in particular you know an episode is good when the pros and cons becomes paragraphs of thought.. which the last stretch basically turned into sticking pros and cons into the trash.

not exactly nervous for s7, more like.. incredibly hyped but also a little sad i only have 22 eps left of the whole series. i really hope they make it count :) onwards to spike probably going insane and buffy having a nicer outlook on life…….. ats on the other hand is still a shitshow and boy i don’t think they’re getting better over there.

[firemanwhenthefloodsrollback]

Who Saved The Day? Season 6

Going right back in with season 6 of Who Saved The Day because last time I didn't move straight on to the next series I accidentally left it a month. It's a controversial statement sometimes but season 6 has always been my favourite season by far and I will never get over my obsession with the darkness and moral complexity. I think this is going to be a hard instalment of deciding who saved the day but I'm excited to get started.

A reminder of the rules: in every episode, including the first parts of two parters, someone must save the day including when the day isn't really saved. The day can only ever be saved by one person and when there are multiple candidates, the person who did the physical saving of the immediate physical threat gets the point.

At the end of season 5 we left it with:

Buffy: 54

Willow: 7

Angel and Giles: 5

Spike: 3

Anya, Faith, Oz, Tara, Xander: 2

And 9 characters including Dawn who have 1 each

So without further ado:

1. Bargaining Part 1: Willow

Straight in with a hard one. Willow is the main man in the spell to bring Buffy back, which certainly solves a problem in a more general sense. The buffybot didn't save the day at all so there isn't really another candidate here.

2. Bargaining Part 2: Dawn

I really really nearly went for Buffy here but I felt like Dawn was the one who solved the main problem. Reaching Buffy when she couldn't function like a human being feels like the greatest achievement here. According to my own rules, I really felt like it should have been Buffy getting Dawn down off the tower but Dawn was the one who solved the main problem.

3. After Life: Buffy

Buffy kills the thing with an axe. An underrated and very very creepy episode. The late seasons moved a long way away from the horror movie origins of the high school years, but After Life is one of the greatest horror movie-esque episodes of the later seasons, and potentially also overall. Willow and Tara did the spell but Buffy wielded the axe.

4. Flooded: Buffy

Buffy kills the demon and most, most, most importantly, save the pipework. Now I'm 25 and have my own relationship with the water company I finally understand the true horror of this episode.

5. Life Serial: Buffy

Three times as a matter of fact.

6. All The Way: Dawn

Dawn saving her own life in one of the sweetest late season episode endings, I feel. This episode and a few others like it remind me of how much the things that seem silly and easy to deal with in the later season were major threats early on. For Dawn, this is a disaster on the same scale as the things Buffy was facing and hoping her friends could face in seasons one and two. I love that Dawn got to save herself here and show the kind of strength that Buffy was using to save the day inn the high school seasons.

7. Once More With Feeling: Spike

Xander averted the demon taking Dawn, Buffy and/or himself away to his magical demon world, but Spike saved Buffy's life during Something To Sing About and I feel like I'm gonna count that? It gets presented in the episode as a bigger deal than Xander's saving of the day, which is thrown away as a comedy line.

8. Tabula Rasa: Xander

By accident, but that'll do sometimes. Treading on something by mistake is the kind of saving of the day that I feel like I could actually aspire to.

9. Smashed: Tara

I have absolutely no idea who saved the day here. Normally I'm very insistent on it being the person who stops the supernatural threat saving the day who gets the point, but I really don't know what threat that was here? Obviously a lot is going wrong psychologically, and I love this episode both for Buffy and for Willow, but neither of them faced a 'threat', as such. So the person who solved a problem and kept someone safe at the end of the episode was Tara, choosing to stay with Dawn to keep her safe even when it was potentially awkward.

10. Wrecked: Buffy

It really depends on what the actual villain is here. I originally gave Willow the point for killing the demon that was chasing the car, since that was in a very real sense the monster of the week, but it's just impossible to watch this episode and feel that that was the real threat or the time that the day got saved. The threat here was Willow's addiction and the episode makes it very clear that that's what we're meant to be focusing on, so Buffy helping her at the end is portrayed as saving the day. There's a mystical element to it and it resolves the issue that was the main threat here, so Buffy it is.

11. Gone: Willow

Willow changes the settings on the invisibility gun thing and Willow makes the trio visible again. Just thinking about the trio makes my skin crawl, more and more and more with time.

12. Doublemeat Palace: Willow

How profoundly and wonderfully symbolic.

13. Dead Things: Buffy

Tara honestly deserves it more for the way she talks to Buffy at the end of the episode - one of the rare moments of pure, open-hearted, uncomplicated goodness in a very dark season. Tara is the one who comes closest to making things better here, but the rules I've been using for the other seasons were that the person who deals with the supernatural threat or monster of the week gets the point even if someone else does something more emotionally resonant. I also almost gave it to Spike for stopping Buffy going to the police, but he also didn't really stop her going to the police so no point for Spike. When Buffy recognises Katrina's name and leaves the police station, that's the moment that ruins Warren's plan, so Buffy gets the point.

14. Older And Far Away: Anya

One of my absolute favourite episodes and certainly one that deserves to get talked about more. Anya puts two and two together about Halfrek being the demon who cursed them, and her bringing Halfrek to the house is what gets the curse lifted, so a well deserved point for Anya.

15. As You Were: Buffy

Buffy throws the grenade. Weird episode.

16. Hell's Bells: Buffy

Buffy and Xander do kill that demon communally, but for very obvious reasons I refuse to give Xander a point for this episode and I defend that decision.

17. Normal Again: Buffy

Buffy makes the horrifically difficult decision to go back to the world we recognise so no one else is getting close to this point.

18. Entropy: Willow

Was...... the day saved here at all? Willow solved the issue of the hidden cameras which was technically the threat here I guess?

19. Seeing Red: Xander

My least favourite episode by a very very long way, and not one I ever rewatch. I had to use a plot summary to help me with this one because I just don't do Seeing Red at all. Xander gets Buffy the ambulance, which is the closest thing to saving the day that we get here.

20. Villains: Anya

This episode was so hard to make a call about that it kind of undermines the idea of doing my silly little project at all. Anya finds where Willow has taken Warren and leads the way there, and probably comes the closest to saving the day of anyone?

21. Two To Go: Giles

Giles!

22. Grave: Xander

The yellow crayon speech makes me tear up and it always, always will.

So that was season 6! Some very difficult calls and fewer points for Buffy than any other season by a fair way. At the end of the season we are left with:

Buffy: 63

Willow: 11

Giles: 6

Angel and Xander: 5

Anya and Spike: 4

Dawn and Tara: 3

Faith and Oz: 2

And 8 other characters who got 1 each

I'm excited to get to season 7 and finish my weird little project off. No one is coming for Buffy, obviously, and I'd be very surprised if anyone takes the number 2 spot away from Willow, but what happens further down the leaderboard is anyone's guess.

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Why You Should Watch SKET Dance

Why You Should Watch SKET Dance

If I were to tell you what I took away from SKET Dance from old lessons to new, I would say that it said something along the lines of this:

“You are not the mistakes you made in the past. You are not defined the person you were before. If anything, the past is something that you cannot change, but you can surpass those regrets and try to change for the better. Trauma is something that cannot be left behind, but it can get better, especially when you are surrounded by the right people and support. Helping people doesn’t always change the world, but it can change the world of that person and maybe even yours.”

That cheesy quote took a while to write (so did this whole post), but that’s because I wanted to get it right. I wasn’t even sure where to start with this post of sorts.

I will warn ahead of time that if you aren’t familiar with anime, SKET Dance might be an overreach. It does have some references that are niche, and it has a lot of “manzai” (tsukkomi/boke) jokes with tons of mentions. There is fanservice, but no more than you’d see in some of the other series that were released under Shonen Jump. Sometimes the humour and everything can be a little cringy, but I think that’s a given with the fact that you are watching anime.

(This is spoiler-free, gluten-free, no trans fat, and took me too much time.)

Story

I get that it’s like Gintama, but I wouldn’t say it’s a “poor man’s Gintama”. Instead, take it for what it is. It’s like comparing a younger sibling to the older sibling. You’re not letting SketDan shine on its own, and it deserves to.

SketDan has a really simplistic story. It’s about a school club that wants to help people. There is no big war, massive battles, or over-the-top villain that needs to be crushed. I can’t say that it’s episodic, but it definitely leans towards the more “slice-of-life” approach. It has its own arcs that come one after another in good bits and pieces. This series balances itself so well with its drama and comedy. The backstories were done so well, and they didn’t even get to all of them! In fact, one of the best ones was left just in the manga.

The story is made by the characters. It doesn’t rely on the environment or the world around them. Instead, the world to them are the people they are surrounded by. No aliens, samurai, ninjas, or great big event, it’s just them, their high school, and their unconventional club.

Characters

This has got to go down as one of the best ensemble trios in anime. All of them do get their time to develop, and they balance each other out so well. You’d think these characters were friends for their entire lives. I can’t even say who’s the best because I think they’re all the best!

Bossun is a sensitive guy who’s insecure about being the main character of this series (yes, he does mention that). He doesn’t have any spectacular “Shonen Jump” skills. He has no “bankai”, “rasengan”, or “Kamehameha”. He has a hat and goggles. His power is concentration. These are completely valid reasons to be worried about your character status because, on the surface, Bossun sounds downright pathetic (and he knows it). But through the story, you get to see why he’s actually one of the best main characters out there (even if the cast doesn’t want to acknowledge it).

Himeko is one of the coolest characters in this series. I haven’t seen a weapon of that kind… ever. She isn’t afraid to slap the stuff out of anyone and will do anything for a friend. I don’t want to get into her character too much due to spoilers, but it’s revealed early on that she is quite legendary. She’s quite important for the humour of this story. It’s often brought up that she’s the “tsukkomi” (the one who responds to the “boke” stupid).

Last but not least of the great trio, we have Switch. This is probably the character I was most blindsided by. Even though I knew his backstory beforehand (nobody stops me from clicking from “show spoiler” button, it’s quite a problem). He’s the local otaku and database. And he’s probably the most observant. Even though he never “talks”, he’s one of the funniest characters in the series even when he isn’t in the limelight. I legally cannot dig into more about his character due to spoilers. You really need to see it for yourself.

The supporting cast is nothing to put aside either. A lot of them become more and more important as time passes, and the roles they play soon play right into the main plot of the story. We’ve got someone who speaks in “yabasu”, a ghostly occult member, a samurai, a captain, a tsundere, a visual kei star who doesn’t speak in any actual language, a 1.8m tall woman who can literally murder you with a slap, a voice actress idol movie star, and a teacher who makes drugs and bombs. That doesn’t even touch on the student counsel. Anyways, discovering these characters is part of the charm.

Art

There are too many good faces in this anime. While the art isn’t always consistent, it’s never “bad”.

The faces in this anime are on-par with other comedy anime. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Music

*downloads all the music*

I’m going to pretend like I haven’t listened to some of these on repeat since I finished the anime. Not all anime will literally have a designated band that are made after the characters. That was a really nice touch. There are a ton of special insert songs that go with certain arcs too.

SKET Dance is like any other anime in a way. It benefits from having a good OST. A good OST will add to the story. It will add to the anime, and it will convey all the right feelings. It helps with the comedy, the drama, and the random “what am I watching” moments.

Seiyuu

I wanted to save this category for last. This anime actually changed the way that I look at all the main seiyuu of this anime. It’s not that often that the Vomics (voice acted comics) have the same cast as the anime. They fit their characters so well, and I really can’t express that enough. I associate their voices with their character. It’s like how you can look at a picture of your favourite character and remember exactly what they sound like (or maybe that’s just me).

I haven’t actually heard a lot of lead roles by Hiroyuki Yoshino because he has such a uniquely odd voice. I think the last anime I watched where he actually played the protagonist was Kekkaishi which was quite a while ago. He did well for that role too. Another anime where he played one of the main characters was in Hai to Gensou no Grimgar which didn’t have a very enjoyable cast compared to other anime including SKET Dance (but still worth checking out if you like tamer isekai). I’ve also seen him play a suave character, but I actually skipped most of his lines going, “Not this again.” Present Mic is a character that he seems to be popular for, but those specific niche characters didn’t give him nearly the range that Bossun did. From the moments we were laughing with him and at him to the serious moments that really made me go quiet, it felt like he was truly the character.

Ryouko Shiraishi is such an underrated seiyuu. She admits that she doesn’t have a very cutesy voice, and due to that, the number of female characters she can play goes down, but I wouldn’t dismiss how great she is. For one, she’s really good at the Kansai dialect. Second, she plays a lot of younger male characters. She makes Himeko really cute but also really tough and spunky. She carries a lot of the humour as the reactor “tsukkomi”. And if you’ve watched Demon Slayer, she plays one of the demons and is so good at it. I really like her unique voice because it deviates from the norm just like Himeko’s character.

Gintoki—I mean Tomokazu Sugita is great as Switch, and even though sometimes we forget that he’s a legitimate voice actor who can actually voice act and not just scream on command. Of course, he’s funny. That goes without saying. Almost all of his well-known characters are known for being funny. Even the guy in real life is really funny. I’m not sure how much explanation would be needed for him.

Summary

Overall, I had such a good time with this anime. It made me laugh, feel the feels, and really smile (I mean the type that people really ask you what the heck you’re watching because you’re smiling like you just watched someone you hate fall down the stairs). It reminded me of what I liked from comedy anime, but it also reminded me what I like about anime that take it to basics with just its characters. Actions and battles are good once in a while, but the characters are the heart, soul, and being of this anime. If you’re looking for a good laugh or smile with a ton of gags and jokes with a great ensemble cast, look no further! SKET Dance is here!

I’m going to recommend this anime to anyone who has read this, @azroazizah​, @brettyblease​, @tsukiomoon​, and anyone else who likes those Shonen Jump shenanigans.

P.S. It is totally worth picking up the manga after watching the anime.

[birdybirp]

👀 Tell me about the grinning man?

YOU DON’T HAVE TO ASK ME TWICE!!

Did you like Phantom of the Opera? Did you think it could use some more black comedy?? Would you like another musical based on another French novel about a tragic/sad man with a face disfigurement??????? 

If you answered yes to any or all of these, The Grinning Man is for you, my friend. 

Let’s start with the players: 

Meet Grinpayne, the titular Grinning Man. Disfigured as a child in an incident he can’t remember, he now performs at the Stokes Croft Fair as a freak show attraction to earn money to go to “a new world” while also trying to come to terms with his past. He is also a very good boy, if not a little dumb. 

This absolute angel Grinpayne is holding is Dea. Grinpayne found her as a baby, clutched in her dead mother’s arms and freezing to death in the snow. She was born blind but has better foresight and intuition than the entire cast combined. . 

As they grew up, Dea and Grinpayne fell in love and are THE CUTEST COUPLE!! LOOK AT THEM!!!!

If you’re not touched by a blind girl and a disfigured man falling in love... I don’t know what to tell you. 

Ursus is a puppeteer and potion maker who took in Grinpayne and Dea that day in the snow and became a surrogate father to them. He’s well intentioned, but maybe not the best dad. But he has a wolf named Mojo, so that’s fucking sweet. Just behind him in this screenshot you can see that Good Good Boy. 

This trio is the main emotional crux of the show and is amazing, but there are even more fun characters!

The Grinning Man has a lot to say about classism (which what we all want in our comedies, right??) so there is a royal family. 

Duchess Josiana is the textbook definition of a hedonist. She constantly tries to fill her life with pleasure and it’s never enough. 

Lord David Dirry-Moir is Josiana’s half brother. He is a bisexual disaster man who spends all his time at the Stokes Croft Fair to laugh at the freaks there. He is consistently one of the funniest characters in the show. 

Angelica is Josiana and Dirry-Moir’s half sister. It’s insinuated that she’s been institutionalized by her father multiple times against her will. 

I swear this show is part comedy. 

Angelica also speaks with an accent no one else in her family has and they just never address this??

And their father, King Clarence.... 

Fuck him. Moving on. 

Finally, we have the royal family’s clown and the narrator of sorts, Barkilphedro. He’s probably the least funny clown in existence, who says at the beginning of the show that he can’t imagine laughter without cruelty behind it. 

Again, I swear this show is partially a comedy. It features such hilarious moments as: 

An Erotic Breakfast Dance(tm)

The phrase “Hubert and his anal snake”

A puppet show performed in the middle of a dungeon

But a musical can have the best characters ever and be total shit if the songs aren’t good, right? 

Not a concern with The Grinning Man because the music is BEAUTIFUL. 

LISTEN TO THESE:

I’m sure this is much more than what this poor anon wanted, so I’ll slap on a TL;DR at the end here:

The Grinning Man is a beautiful and very underrated musical that is funny, dark, and touching. It takes the source material of Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs and turns it into a creative, quirky, and amazing story about love and our place in the world. Slap on some AMAZING puppetry by the team who did War Horse and you really couldn’t ask for anything more.

If anyone is interested, I have a file of the proshot of the Bristol Old Vic run of the show that I would be happy to share with anyone who wants to shoot me a dm. I’m also working on a subtitle file for the performance because I want to make this as accessible as possible.

I am very much a disciple of The Grinning Man and will proselytize to everyone until I have more people to talk about this show with.  

[spaceorphan18]

how would you rank the glee seasons (by personal preference) and why?

I hope you don’t mind that I’m copying and pasting from the last time someone asked me.  You can find the full reply here - where I get into some objective rankings, as well. :)  

Subjective Glee Season Rankings:

And here is a list totally based fully on my own opinions and what I personally enjoyed from the show.

1. Season 5 - This season I can fully just sit down and watch pretty much all the episodes and most of the story lines without wanting to skip around.  It’s a warm and happy place, that has a lot of love and brings back some good comedy.  It’s what I most want to pop if/when I want to just watch an episode of Glee.  I also listen to the music from this season a lot.

2. Season 2 - NGL, the Kurt/Klaine story alone is what brings this up so high, and it’s nice that there are so many edits out there that I could get my hands on if I really wanted to watch just that.  I kind of think the rest of the season is garbage, but Kurt’s story on the show is my favorite thing, and season 2 was really the best he ever got.

3. Season 6 - I think it’s underrated.  Even if the botched the ending a little, these episodes are incredibly entertaining, and I’ll stand by that.  

4. Season 4 - Yeah, the Newbie stuff kinda drags it down a bit.  But there are a lot of fun episodes in here, and I don’t mind all the angst now that we’re long past it.  

5. Season 1 - It’s not that I find the Front 13 bad.  I don’t.  I find it boring.  Really. It’s so boring.  The second half of the season I really enjoy, though.  

6. Season 3 - No surprise to anyone, this season is terrible.  

So, to get a better feel about how I really feel about the seasons, I’ve broken them down a little more.  This is still a more subjective list than objective, but no list is going to be perfect.  

1. Season 2′s Kurt/Klaine arc (various episodes) – it is, arguably, the best thing the show ever did.  I’d almost want to combine the back half of season 1′s Kurt arc to this, too because it’s like a story and a sequel that gets even better.  This is my absolute favorite part of Glee, and works so well as just a great stand alone story (which almost does lift right out of everything else going on around it).  

2. Season 5′s New York Arc (eps 14-20) – There’s so much delicious Klaine during these episodes.  The stories are solid, the small cast makes the show engaging in a way it hadn’t been for a long time, and the focus on letting the kids deal with adult issues let’s the show grow in a way that it hadn’t been allowed in a long time.  

3. Season 5 Front 13 (eps 1-13) – I think this part of the season is a bit messier than the second half.  It’s drawn out too much, and Finn’s death kind of leaves a dark cloud over a majority of it.  But there’s a lot of fun in these episodes, and while a good half of them are filler, at least they were entertaining filler.  

4. Season 6 (all of it) – For a long, long time, I didn’t want to like season 6. Yeah, it’s not the most satisfying ending that could have happened.  Yeah, there are a few episodes near the end that shouldn’t have happened.  But I keep coming back to season 6.  There’s a lot of good stuff here, and it’s the tightest the show had been written in a long, long time.  The world of season 6 does feel detached, in a lot of ways, from the rest of the show, but it’s been inspirational for a lot of my own fanworks, so it has a special place for me.  

5. Season 1 Back 9 (eps 14-22).  This is when the show really picked up the pace, and got into its groove.  They shifted towards stories about the kids, and there’s a ton of focus on Kurt’s story, which I really love.  (I call Home, Laryngitis, and Theatricality the Kurt Trio.)  Plus, the show was able to balance comedy and drama in a really intriguing way, while getting rid of some of the baggage that bogged down the first half of the show.

6. Season 4 (everything but eps 18-20)  I know season 4 has such a bad rap, but a lot like season 6, but also like season 6, fandom grew some really fantastic things out of the cracks in the season.  Not only did the second half of the season have some really strong episodes, and the season as a whole have some great Blaine development, but I’ve grown fond of the conflict the season lets the characters have.  Sure, it’s a bit messy all the way around, and neither Brody or the Newbies worked all that well, but this season had a lot of potential, and the fandom ran with it, much to my enjoyment.  

7. Season 3 Arc 2 (eps. 9-17).  Okay, so technically, the middle arc only goes through ep 14, but I’m attaching on some other episodes there, and am about to give season 3 some credit.  The middle section of season 3 isn’t so bad.  There are some quirky and fun episodes here.  Sure there are a few terrible ones in between those, too, because this is still season 3, but every season has something enjoyable in it, so I’m giving credit where credit is due.

8. Season 2 Everything Else (various).  Look, I’m going to be honest.  A majority of stuff that isn’t Kurt/Klaine just isn’t that interesting to me.  And really, I’d argue that there are a lot of crappy story lines in here as well that kind of get ignored because Season 2 was Glee’s golden age – and when fandom really came together to be the ‘olden days’ everyone seems to remember so fondly.  But every time I come back to it, there’s a majority of stuff I’d rather skip than sit through during the none-Kurt focused season 2 stuff. OOps.  

9. Season 3 Arc 3 (Eps 18-22).  A lot of people like the end of the season.  I think this starts the stuff I find really terribly bad.  Finchel blows up.  Will is getting teacher of the year.  Nationals has literally no plot or tension.  There’s virtually no Klaine.  I realize this is my issue, because a lot of people don’t mind these episodes. But I just can’t.  There are very few things that truly annoy me still about Glee.  I’ve forgiven the break-ups and Blainofsky and the amount of Sue on the show, but I can’t forgive that damn Tongue Tied montage.  Sorry.

10. Season 1 Front 13 (eps 1-13).  Yes, I know, I know, this is Glee at its most classic.  And people seem to be nostalgic for this time period for reasons I don’t fully understand.  I’ll keep it simple.  This is low on this list not because it’s bad but because I find it terribly boring.  Everything to do with the adults is boring now that I’ve seen it a hundred times, and I honestly don’t want to go ever go back to it.  **Shrug**

11. Season 4 The Nighttime Trilogy (eps 18-20)  These episodes are very much not great, and kind of take away from a season that, while very messy, is pretty entertaining.  Yes, I know why they’re here – behind the scenes forced them to change it up, and that ended up not going so well, but I feel like lifting these episodes out of season 4 makes the season better.

12.  Season 3 Arc 1 (eps 1-8)  Which should not be a surprise to anyone.  Let’s get something straight – The First Time is a gem in a turd pile, and that’s because the story lines have virtually nothing to do with everything going on around it.  These episodes are truly horrible, and have some of the worst story lines the show has to offer.  Rory? Quinn going crazy? Shelby and Puck? Finn outing Santana?  Mercedes being called lazy constantly? Sue and Beiste in a love triangle? These episodes are tedious to get through. I don’t even find Purple Piano Project as engaging as I used to.  So when I say I can’t stand season 3 – this section is responsible for most of my distaste.  

Alright.. so there you go, that’s how I feel.  And as always, these are my opinions.  I don’t expect anyone to agree, so just play nice, this is the internet after all <3

[nancysgillians]

17-29 for Glee ask meme!! 💜

Oh wow ok thank you! I hope this is not too annoying to answer all of these in one go. You indulge me so @gorgxoxus​ 💖

17) Favorite canon couple? I mean obviously Wemma. KIDDING. It’s Klaine. 

18) Favorite noncanon couple? I answered with Pezberry for this earlier but I am also going to say that a very strong contender lately has been Quinntina and I blame @kuiinncedes​ and @personalgarbagepile​ for this burgeoning obsession. I want some collegiate Ivy League whirlwind romance story for them thank you. Where’s the fic?

19) Least favorite couple? You know what my absolute least fave couple was Wemma. Emma deserves better. Bring back Carl or make Holly/Emma happen. Hemma?

20) Best friendship duo? I think Blam’s friendship duo was the most fleshed out and I adore them but Kurtcedes will remain near and dear to my heart.  21) Best friendship trio? Kurtcheltana - we really could have had it all with them but we had to get a stupid subplot of funny girl understudy shenanigans to ruin everything. If you’ve followed me you know I reblog everything kurtcheltana. I think I have at least 15 posts with them in my drafts right now. 

22) Least favorite friendship? Puck and Finn (enter your preferred mashup of their names here), they really only had a friendship when it was used for a plot device and I dunno I think they both deserved a better friend. 

23) What ship is totally overrated? Hmmm an overrated ship is interesting, I answered underrated earlier (and below) and followed the underrated canon ships only rule so for this one I am doing the reverse. An overrated noncanon ship that I adore but can admit is a lot would be Faberry. 

24) What ship is completely underrated? I answered this one earlier with Tike so I’ll say another ship that is canon and underrated is Wildebrams. They had something sweet that I liked and though I love Jenna and Kevin’s friendship I would have preferred a Tike and Wildebrams endgame if everyone has to follow the unrealistic you-must-fall-in-love-with-someone-from-highschool trope Glee loved so much. 

25) Ship you used to like but now dislike? I genuinely used to like Quick and honestly I don’t know what flipped but rewatching the series this year twice I just found them blah and want Quinn to live her best life at Yale and not be tied down by her past. Plus as we know from above I am digging Quinntina Ivy League vibes. 

26) Ship you used to dislike but now like? Hmm I am mostly an equal opportunity shipper but I used to dislike Samcedes bc the show ruined Sam so much and I think Mercedes deserves the world. Now I like the idea of them growing up and living these awesome lives in LA and Lima and then eventually getting together later in life. I don’t want them to have Finchel’s original endgame story but I wouldn’t be opposed to something where they are endgame but have really happy midgame romances, lives, and experiences. 

27) Favorite family relationship?  Is there any other answer but the Hudmels?!?! Burt and Carole are everyone’s parents and Finn and Kurt are a brother duo comedy goldmine. 

28) Favorite mentor relationship?  Listen, I loved Isabelle and Vogue.com as much as the next Kurt stan but I have to say that Isabelle wouldn’t challenge Kurt to soar. I think Carmen and Kurt would have been a kickass mentor relationship that the foundation was laid out for in the show but instead we have to give Rachel (523981738) chances and make me resent Carmen a little. 

29) Best vocal duo? Darn this one is difficult because I think when Klaine get a good song or a line I am overjoyed at how they sound but its like 50/50 on if their vocals will be perfect. Meanwhile Artie and Mercedes (Artcedes?) are like everyone’s back up vocals and when they have a song or a section together it is PERFECTION. If you aren’t listening to Amber Riley’s or Kevin Mchale’s music you are sleeping on them. This was way too much fun, thank you! Send me a number/question! 

[kpoptimeout]

My Top 10 K-Dramas of 2019 - What’s Yours?

2019 is ending soon and K-Dramaland has once again brought us so many goodies this year. As per our blog’s tradition [For 2018 faves click here], below are my Top 10 favs of the year (my faves in alphabetical order so it might not be yours so please don’t judge). (For our blog’s 2019 music ratings, click here!)

My only specific criteria usually is that the show must have had started in 2019 to be considered a 2019 series but this year I have made an exception for dramas that started very late in 2018 and it required watching well into 2019 for to be sure it was a great drama.

Without further ado, check the list below!

Doctor Prisoner (KBS2)

If you are looking for a thriller with insanely good acting, I would highly recommend Doctor Prisoner. Set in a prison clinic with Namkoong Min’s disgraced doctor as the lead plotting to right the wrongs society has done to him, the drama blurs the lines between good and bad. The medical director of the prison played by Kim Byungcheol seems like the perfect evil archetype for the audience to hate on but over time the plot and the acting allow us to soften up to his character and worry about his well-being. The drama also thrived in the current political climate in South Korea with its nuanced look into corruption and class issues. It was also a delight to see Namkoong Min’s rise in the past years from a rom-com lead to a seasoned leading man able to take on many diverse roles. If you love a drama that discusses the conflict between humanity and greed with stellar acting, you would love Doctor Prisoner!

Extraordinary You (MBC)

I actually struggled with whether to put Extraordinary You in the Top 10 due to the poor writing in the last few episodes of the show but caved in due to the spectacular quality of the earlier episodes and the consistently amazing acting of the main cast. Based on the popular webtoon “July Found By Chance”, the drama is about a girl called Eun Danoh who discovers she is in a shojo manga and not even the female lead - just an extra there to drive the love line between the male and female lead and stuck with a one-sided love to the biggest f*ckboi in school. Danoh decides to fight against fate (the writer’s plot) and try to change the storyline with her friends who start to also gain consciousness as well as the male lead Haru, a nameless background character who seems to have a mysterious connection to Danoh and an ability to switch characters in and out of scenes. The first half of the drama is pure K-Drama gold and consistently makes self-aware jabs at K-Drama tropes. Also, the quality acting of Kim Hyeyoon really breathed life into the character of Danoh, whose many monologues during her self-aware moments would fall flat without good delivery. While playing Haru was SF9’s Rowoon’s first major lead role, he carried the part well and was able to show the changes in Haru as he went from brainless NPC to an increasingly aware player in the plot to take down the comic book writer. Lee Jaewook, April’s Naeun, Jung Gunjoo, Kim Youngdae and Lee Taeri also all excelled in their respective roles. If you would like a drama where you can discover lots of young talent, Extraordinary You is the drama for you!

He is Psychometric (tvN)

While using the common K-Drama trope of male lead has a peculiar and uncommon superpower, and teams up with a female lead with secrets and some investigators to solve crimes, He is a Pyschometric excels in how it used these tropes well. I mean it is a tvN production and they own the supernatural mystery/romance genre these days. The male lead has the power to know about people’s past by touching their skin so of course we know plenty of skinship shenanigans and questions about human nature and trauma would be explored in this drama. After providing backstory and building up the personality of the main characters in the first few episodes, the series was consistently intense and the chemistry of the characters is great. GOT7’s Jinyoung has proven that he is ready for lead roles in more dramas, while Shin Yeeun showed that she is ready to take on the television screen after her quick rise to fame as a web drama actress in the record-breaking web series “A-TEEN”. SISTAR’s Dasom has also continued to grow as an actress, as seen in her role as police investigator in this series. If you are a fan of supernatural and mystery based K-Dramas, He is Psychometric is definitely one of the best dramas this year for you!

Hotel del Luna (tvN)

Another fantasy series coming from tvN, Hotel del Luna was definitely one of the most talked-about dramas of the year and rightly so. Set in a hotel that caters to ghosts, e.g. the dead with grievances and unable to “move on” to the world of the dead, you know you are in for episodic adventures involving the lives of many guests. We are also provided with the interesting relationship between IU’s Jang Manwol (her name literally means full moon) who is the ghost hotel owner for over 1000 years as a punishment for her sins and Yeo Jingoo’s Koo Chansung (his name literally means bright star) that the deities believe is the key to Manwol’s emancipation from ghost hotel running duties. In a way, it is like a gender-swapped version of the Goblin relationship going on but due to additional plotlines and character relationships, it is honestly a lot more and I will leave it to you guys to find out when you watch the show yourself. If you enjoy a fantasy drama involving ancient supernatural beings, Korean folklore and diverse stories, you would enjoy Hotel del Luna!

Kingdom (Netflix)

Netflix Korea continues to churn out amazing dramas and Kingdom is definitely one of the best this year. Adapted from the Korean webtoon series “The Kingdom of Gods”, the drama is set in Joseon Korean (in the 16th century) where a crown prince already dealing with court intrigues and trying to make it out alive is thrown another deadly problem - zombies. Given the stellar performance of Netflix’s earlier Korean period drama Mr. Sunshine and the amazing global box-office results of Korean zombie movie Train to Busan, this concept itself already sounds like a perfect cocktail for success. And the drama was received very positively, with a second season renewed for 2020. Besides the ridiculously addictive plot, the acting is also superb. The crown prince is played by none other than Ju Jihoon, who has long been popular in South Korea and among K-Drama fans for his dark and brooding demeanour perfect for an apocalyptic series. Bae Doona, who has found great success in Korea and in Hollywood for her roles in K-Dramas and movies such as Cloud Atlas and Netflix series Sense8, expertly takes the female lead role of the physician uncovering the zombie epidemic. If you love period dramas, zombie movies or both, this is the drama for you!

Sky Castle (JTBC)

Widely lauded as the best K-Drama of the year, Sky Castle is arguably one of the best K-Dramas of this decade because of the amazing acting, the unpredictable plot and its inclusion of many societal issues in South Korea. The show set the record for the most-viewed cable drama in South Korean history. Set in the opulent neighbourhood called Sky Castle, the story revolves around the “real” housewives of the neighbourhood who are all trying to get their kids into the top three universities in South Korea (SNU, Korea U and Yonsei - often also abbreviated as SKY universities). This concept of looking at the competitive education environment of East Asian countries is not new but the series set itself apart but including a mystery element, where deaths, secrets and intrigue involving members of the neighbourhood also shed light to class issues spanning across generations, gender issues, work culture, as well as familial relations in the conservative Korean society. The show also employed an extremely talented but underrated cast of actors who either spent many years honing their craft as side characters of many shows or are star film school students. The show also gave many opportunities to the cast afterwards, as seen in Kim Byungcheol’s lead role opportunity in Prison Doctor and Kim Hyeyoon’s lead role in Extraordinary You that are both discussed above. If you love a socially aware drama full of intrigue and mystery with great acting and cinematography, you would love Sky Castle!

The Fiery Priest (SBS)

The highest-rated miniseries of 2019, The Fiery Priest is really a unique show unlike any other. The story follows an investigation into the death of an elderly priest, with the Scooby-Doo crew made up of a young priest, a detective, and a prosecutor. While the crime-solving trio dynamic in the synopsis would definitely give “The Guest” flashbacks, this drama is completely opposite to OCN’s 2018 gritty horror extravaganza and is instead heartfelt and utterly hilarious. The priest clearly has anger management issues, the detective sucks at his job and the prosecutor has questionable moral standards. And Kim Namgil, Kim Sungkyun and Honey Lee all played these roles ridiculously well. Like other great dramas this year, The Fiery Priest looks at social issues in South Korea but instead of extremely serious commentary, touches of them in a humorous and sarcastic manner. This allowed the show to get away with more than you would expect on Korean non-cable TV. One thing the show did do which was similar to the much more serious “The Guest” was not having a romance plotline shoved down our throats like many K-Dramas. If you love a good comedy-mystery drama, you should check out The Fiery Priest!

The Tale of Nokdu (KBS2)

Another drama based on a webtoon, The Tale of Nokdu received average national ratings but was massively successful among the Gen Z of Korea and overseas fans. The reason may be the premise of the series. We have seen a good amount of girl masquerades as guy romcoms in the late 2000s and early 2010s such as the legendary dramas “Coffee Prince”, “You Are Beautiful”, “Sungkyunkwan Scandal” and “To The Beautiful You” but HAVE WE SEEN A REVERSED VERSION? Well look no further as The Tale of Nokdu is exactly that. Set in the Joseon Dynasty, the male lead has to hunt down a female assassin who has taken refuge in a women-only widow’s village and he must pretend to be a woman to live in the village to catch the assassin. Jang Dongyoon and Kim Sohyun delivered quality acting but probably what really made the show so popular with the Gen Z audience is seeing the male lead coming to realise the struggles of women in ancient times, with some struggles still existing today, as he lived in the widow’s village and the fierce and strong personality of the female lead who keeps saving the male lead’s ass. While there are some expected period drama tropes with royal court politics and will-they-won’t-they in face of the greater good, The Tale of Nokdu is one of the standout dramas this year for its fresh take on the cross-dressing K-Drama trope. If you have enjoyed previous cross-dressing K-Dramas, you should give The Tale of Nokdu a try!

Vagabond (Netflix/SBS)

Lee Seunggi and Suzy reunites in Vagabond for the first time since Gu Family Book in 2013 and this was definitely a great reunion. With a backdrop involving government corruption and terrorist attacks, Lee Seunggi dons the role of a retired stuntman turned vagabond to avenge the death of his nephew and uncover the truth. Suzy joins Lee Seunggi as a rookie special agent who gets pulled into the investigations after being in the wrong place during the wrong time (or the right place in the right time depending on how you view the investigations). This action-packed series was filmed across many countries such as Portugal and Morocco and would give you a huge adrenaline rush as the main cast faces new obstacles and betrayals in every episode. The current ending of the series suggests a possible Season 2. If you are a fan of spy and action-type thrillers like City Hunter and IRIS, you would love Vagabond!

When the Camellia Blooms (KBS2)

The highest-rated mini-series this year after The Fiery Priest, When the Camellia Blooms is a slightly more light-hearted slice of life series set in the fictional matriarchal town of Ongsan. The series stars Gong Hyojin as a single mother who moves to the town to raise his son and run a bar called “Camellia”. The story revolves around Kang Haneul’s small town cop (and lowkey village idiot with a heart of gold) who has a crush on Gong Hyojin and her baseball star ex-boyfriend and the boy’s father played by Kim Jiseok trying to win her back. What makes this series so well-loved is that besides the love triangle shenanigans set in the small-town community, the endless line of useless pushover men, and the community drama between store owners and neighbours, there is also a mystery involving a serial killer who holds a grudge against the female lead. But ultimately it is a quirky drama where the slice-of-life really dominates over the mystery aspect of the series and we learn a lot about the characters and their backstories as the series progresses. If you like a more slow-paced, slice-of-life series, When the Camellia Blooms is the series for you!

Honourable Mentions:

Dazzling/The Light In Your Eyes (JTBC): The story about a young woman who suddenly became 70 years old but with the ability to manipulate time. The series received critical acclaim for its portrayals of the struggles of everyday folk in South Korea and for its surprising twists.

The Secret Life of My Secretary (SBS): The male lead is a childish company director who lost the ability to recognise faces and must enlist the help of his secretary to maintain the pretence of normalcy. Rainbow’s Jaekyung was a complete scene-stealer for her role as the over-the-top CEO Veronica Park. 

The Last Empress (SBS): Set in the alternate reality where South Korea is a constitutional monarchy, this is a melodrama involving a bodyguard who wants to seek revenge on the King’s mistress and a Queen who discovers her fairy tale marriage was just a PR ploy by the royal family. Basically, peak quality makjang.

What’s your Top 10 K-Dramas of the Year? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and may the drama sharing begin (and the road to more excuse for holiday procrastination!)

Also, if you want to check out underrated K-Pop songs of 2019, here are the lists for idol songs and artist songs. We have also made a list for the Top 20 most underrated K-Pop songs of the decade!

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 2X13 - Tiny

Hey, reader! Your TINY-ing couldn’t be better to check out my latest review! XD

Yeah, not my best pun, but it’s not too GIANT of a misstep! XD

COMEBACK!

Now go under the cut and read my review!

Press Release

Kidnapped and brought to Storybrooke by Cora, the Giant unleashes his vengeance on the town when a case of mistaken identity leads him to try and settle an old score with David; Mr. Gold, accompanied by Emma and Henry, attempts to depart Storybrooke - hoping to keep his memory intact when he crosses the town line – and heads to the airport in search of his son Bae; and Greg (Ethan Embry) questions Belle as to what she saw on the night of his car accident. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was and against his brothers’ wishes, Anton, the Giant, climbs down the beanstalk and attempts to befriend some humans - whose intentions may not be so noble. General Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness Past I really like the conflict in this episode and how it relates to the present later on. We clearly know the outcome of Anton’s voyage to the human world, but Anton never feels like he’s being foolish in this flashback. Anton’s research, kind heart, and inquisitive nature are not being satisfied (And as often implied, even mocked and bullied) by his siblings. But, in that same token, they are not completely cast as bad either. Anton clearly cares for them, and his oldest sibling is shown to be wise in many ways and it’s his lesson of seeking another land that proves to be the key to Anton’s eventual happiness and livelihood in the present.

James’ and Jack’s plan is a great one. That plotting is devious. The staging of it all was well done enough that it doesn’t feel contrived, but understanding of the kind of person Anton is and malleable enough account for missteps. Just go back and watch the bar scene. James has his outburst at the guard just loud enough so that Anton hears him, and of course, Anton, the curious guy that he is, would ask about why. Jack just happens to bring up the subject of beans and while Anton can’t help her in that regard, what else are giants known for? Their treasure, something Anton can be far more generous with. And give him enough motivation and he’ll go right over there with the bare minimum security. It’s honestly one of the best and most underrated evil plans on the show. It’s simple, but intelligently suited to its victim. Present I love the Storybrooke section of this episode! Anton, while the antagonist in this segment to David’s protagonist story, is never made to be a bad guy because the entire time we’re with him attacking, we’re aware of his plight. Because of that, we want him to pull through and get along with everyone and the episode gives that emotional payoff while still ensuring that Anton does learn his lesson about humans. David is in his best form throughout the episode, kind and compassionate but not without his limits and Snow acts as a great source of support and friendship while Leroy rounds out the trio with his comedy and everyman presence in town (And later on, surprising amount of heart).

It’s so great to see the people of Storybrooke acting as a unit again during the rescue and aftermath of Anton. It reminds me of the efforts made in episodes like “A Still Small Voice” and it fits into the story well as a bulk of humans are able to prove themselves to Anton at once.

Also, let’s talk about the airport scenes, but it helps make this episode so memorable. The security scene is both so hysterical at first and so tense and terrifying once the shawl comes off, even after the safe resolution. That having been said, I will say, I wish things were a little bit clearer as to why Rumple was freaking out even after he retained his memories. I can’t help but feel like they were almost going to go for a different angle like actually having Rumple at one point revert to his cursed self (Note how Rumple places so much emphasis on how important it was for him to keep his true identity), but it was abandoned. Otherwise, what was the purpose of the freakouts because we only got a few seconds of waviness as he was crossing through security before getting the shawl back? I like the idea of Rumple freaking out over not having his magic for the first time since the curse broke and realizing that his mortality is back, but what brought it on and how it was handled was weird. All Encompassing This segment is also notable in the fact that not only is it Anton’s first and only centric, but it is the first time that we really see the distinctions between David and James. Before, we saw a bit of James before his death, but while bits of him can be understood with the aid of hindsight, but this is where the character was truly defined for the first time. Whereas David so often acts for the betterment of his people and even those who oppose him (to the point where he attempts to sacrifice himself for Storybrooke’s safety and then later endangers himself for Anton’s sake), James is only interested in himself and won’t lift so much as a finger to help someone if it puts him in danger. Insights - Stream of Consciousness -”I think layers are always a good idea!” Nice subtle showing of Mama Swan! -I don’t know why, but it cracks me up how Rumple’s covering the expenses of their trip! XD Charming summed it up best: “You’re a real gentleman, aren’t you?” -”This isn’t a threat, it’s a request. Take care of them.” Aww! I love that extra bit of Sheep Bros! And Rumple actually responds to it! -I like also how Rumple’s being much more overt to Emma and co about who it is he’s looking for. I’m going to call that a slight development in his emotional honesty. -David, I am with Snow. That holster looks great on you! -Regina needs to join the Storybrooke acting troupe alongside Killian, Cora, and Rumple. Actually, someone make a fic out of this! Please? -”And we’re sorry.” I love how Snow completely follows through on her resolve from the previous episode. -First Captain Charming scene! Yayyyyy!! Honestly, it’s just as perfect as I’d hoped it would be! -Not gonna lie, I don’t even think it’s a shipping thing, but seeing Killian flirt with Snow like he does by the cops doesn’t flow with me at all. It’s just creepy, and I feel bad saying that, but it just is for me. -I never realized before that The Jolly Roger is made from Enchanted Wood. That’s pretty cool! -Anton is an adorable little bean! -I just realized: Now that the realms are merged, is Anton essentially out of a job, or are the beans the equivalent of teleportation now? Like, if I want to visit Elsa from Granny’s, can I just throw a bean and be right there? And if so, then Anton is now a multi-millionaire and I just couldn’t be happier for the guy! -Watching this flashback makes me hate the flashback in “Flower Child” so forking much. Everything that is done wrong there is done right here. -Holy shirt! Anton can punch! Like, get him on the main team! -The set up of the mystery of why Anton hates David is a very well done one for as brief as it is. It gives the audience a moment to establish how Emma’s actions have shown Anton that some humans aren’t evil as well as the fact that Anton isn’t a bad guy, but showing a clear snapping point for him. -Red Beauty! Yayyyyyy! -Hospital staff: It’s probably not a great idea to have “Good Morning Storybrooke” playing when you have two patients who aren’t supposed to know about magic. -Awww! Ruby loves books too, and reads from Belle’s favorite author! She’s just too sweet! -”Why does everyone keep calling me that?” ...Because it’s your name and you haven’t said anything along the lines of “my name is Lacey.” Introduce yourself! -James just has no shame! He’s about to have sex, his dad comes in, and he’s practically about to continue on! -I feel so bad for Anton! He so has a crush on Jack, and Jack’s just...well, not the worst, but definitely in the top 50 worst. -”How terribly uncivilized.” Rumple, you used to live in a world without indoor plumbing. You’re one to talk! -”Have you ever been on a plane before?” Have you ever been impaled upon a cane before?” That is forking hysterical and will never not be! XD -”You father?” Rumple, you are close to a century older than Emma! Yeah, you could be her dad! XD -Has anyone ever commented on how there’s literally no reason for the shawl to go into the bin. It’s not metal. Am I missing something here? -I want that roasted pig so badly! -”You’re human. I hate humans.” Part of me is thrown a little off base with this line. On one hand, Anton does what humans, but when David, Snow, and Leroy found him, he was more relaxed. However, I’m willing to waive it off to him getting his bearings upon waking up in a strange land. -Oh, shirt! Rumple can’t heal himself! BLOODY HELL! XD -That light is so unflattering for Robert right in the bathroom scene. -The entire conversation between Anton, David, and Snow concerning Emma and James is hysterical. As far as miscommunication scenarios go on this show, this is one of the best. And the follow up conversation between David, Snow, and Leroy over David’s name is equally so! XD -Don’t worry, Anton! Just HOLE-d on! XD -Awww! Look at Anton learning how to use a pickaxe! Anton, never change! Arcs - How are These Storylines Progressing? Regina’s Redemption - It is so hard to watch as Regina double crosses everyone in this episode. I don’t think it’s poorly done, and MM and David’s lines about not needing Regina’s say about Henry make the betrayal a well set up ad effective one. It builds well off of the last couple of episodes and while a touch accelerated around this part, I do think that the overall pacing works here. The People of Storybrooke Going Home - So this arc was really introduced during “The Cricket Game,” I believe. So far, I’m not sure how well it’s being set up, but I will say that this is the clearest the the arc itself has been defined since its inception. Favorite Dynamic David and Anton - David’s interactions with Anton are a true testament to his kindness and leadership abilities. Anton punches him in the face and refuses to cooperate with any attempts David makes to reason with him and yet David simply doesn’t give up on helping him the right way because of who he is. Additionally, how he rallies the entire town together for that same cause is inspiring. He knows the damage his “father” did and he wants those affected by him in any way (even through his progeny) to be helped, no matter what it takes. And on Anton’s side, just like with Emma, he’s receptive to that kindness and the belief in David doesn’t come from just simple information or evidence, but from David’s straight-up actions of offering himself up as a sacrifice and later saving him, and that’s so amazing! Writer Christine Boylan and Kalinda Vazquez are “Tiny’s” writers, and this is a great team up. The pacing of this episode feels very good, moving so that things aren’t rushed, but the stories remain flowing. Additionally, the framing of the writing is quite intricate, careful to not make anyone a bad guy but to also direct the sympathy where it is deserved. Additionally, the manner of Anton’s forgiveness (Both to him and from him) is expertly handled through the actions of the entire town saving Anton from the hole and him helping everyone grow beans. Rating 10/10. I love this episode’s story. Anton is a likable and layered character to follow and his journey with Ruth’s twins across the two timelines is equally layered. The story itself is very lowkey in comparison to some of our previous episodes, and it’s a welcome change of pace! It’s a super simple, yet quite detailed character story that allows for a lot to be done with James, Snow, Charming, and Leroy’s characters. Seeing all of these characters build off one another is what Once Upon a Time does best and the hearty story makes it all the better. While I didn’t find the storytelling at the airport to be as airtight (pun always intended) as the other segments (Ergo, why this isn’t a Golden Apple), the scenes on their own can be super entertaining (Especially EVERYTHING with Rumple in the first half of the security scene). Flip My Ship - Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness” Snowing - It’s just really nice seeing Snow and David working together! They’re so supportive and protective of each other, ranging from hugs to verbally helping each other during discussions with Anton, Hook, and each other over the differences between David and James. Snow and Charming are always expressing their love in some way, and it’s so subtly heartwarming. And hearing Snow talk about how she had fun today and missed their little adventures as she dances around him and the sidewalk is just great! Grumpy Giant - Freakin’ hollythecurious got me into the swing of this ship, and I love it and her for introducing it to me! XD Look at Grumpy’s adoring looks as he helps Anton get settled in to life in Storybrooke and how forward he is with his assistance. This is Grumpy we’re talking about and he’s rarely as likely to take the initiative in regards to introducing people to the town. And dammit, it’s so cute! Hell, he even moves the dwarves’ entire workforce to help Anton grow beans and calls them “our crop!” ()()()()()()()()() Thanks for reading and to the fine and fantastic folks at @watchingfairytales for their continued support and the project!

Wow! this season’s going great, but wow am I tired! Writing these long ash reviews is exhausting! You know what I could use? A drink. How about a Manhattan? ;)

See you next time.

Season 2 Tally (114/220) Writer Tally for Season 2: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis: (29/60) Jane Espenson (25/50) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (24/50) David Goodman (16/30) Robert Hull (16/30) Christine Boylan (17/30) Kalinda Vazquez (20/30) Daniel Thomsen (10/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

[nixonsmoviereviews]

"Split"- The M. Night Shyamalan we knew and loved is back with a vengeance! 'Split' is a taut and intense thriller!

Save for a few controversial political figures, fewer people have proved to be as divisive in recent years as the filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan. Though his career got off to a promising start with an excellent trilogy of thrillers including the iconic "Sixth Sense", underrated "Unbreakable" and heartfelt and frightening "Signs", he soon took a nosedive with a series of severe misjudgments and a string of critical failures. Whereas before 2004, his name piqued curiosity and excitement, for a time there, he became a small laughing stock. Thankfully, he's gone through something of a career-renaissance. Between his very decent television series "Wayward Pines", his entertaining 2015 found-footage horror-comedy "The Visit" and now his excellent new feature "Split", it appears that the M. Night we so fondly remember… the same man who brought us that brilliant trilogy of films so many years ago… is back with a vengeance! "Split", a sort-of drama/thriller starring the excellent James McAvoy and wonderful newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy might just be one of his best films yet. It's a shocking return to form for Shyamalan, and it honestly came out of nowhere for me. I never gave up on him entirely even when his later films started to get progressively worse... but even I wasn't expecting "Split" to be just as good as it is. It's still early in the year, but I have my doubts that the year will produce any other thrillers that are just as deliciously creative, genuinely suspenseful, oftentimes hilarious and downright breathtaking as this film. Bravo, Mr. Shyamalan! Bravo. We follow a trio of teenaged girls, including troubled outsider Casey (Taylor-Joy), who are kidnapped by a troubled man named Kevin (McAvoy) who suffers from Dissociative Idenity Disorder. With twenty-three identities inside of his mind, Kevin is completely unable to control his own body, which is being increasingly inhabited by a small group of corrupt and twisted personalities who tease the girls about the coming of a twenty-fourth personality known only as "The Beast." Casey, herself coming from a dark history, tries to assist the others in figuring out how to save themselves, all while Kevin's psychiatrist Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley) becomes increasingly alarmed by his recent behavior. To star, the cast is just phenomenal, and everyone is perfectly cast in their respective roles. Anya Taylor-Joy, who got her start in the excellent art-house horror feature "The Witch", makes for a remarkable protagonist who you can't help but root for. She has a talent far beyond her years, and it's going to be great fun seeing her career develop. Betty Buckley is wonderful as a brilliant psychiatrist whose goal is to help Kevin, even if she suspects there might be something sinister going on. She adds a great sense of class to the role and also helps to fill the audience in on the details and eccentricities of Kevin and his disorder. But of course, James McAvoy is the real standout here. The role of Kevin is one that if played poorly, could have destroyed the entire film. But McAvoy is absolutely stunning, and steals the show in virtually every scene. He perfectly balances his performance, and plays it just over-the-top enough that it works, while never becoming cartoony. Each of his "alters" feels like a unique role, and all of them elicit a different reaction from the viewer- whether it be the threat of the predatory "Dennis", the entertainment and sadness brought about by the childlike "Hedwig" or the likability of the dominant personality "Barry." Just an incredible, award-worthy turn from the excellent McAvoy. Shyamalan is at the top of his game in regards to his writing and direction, and I actually found this one of his most ambitious and striking films to date. His script has a wonderful sense of pace and structure, doling out information at a deliberate but steady pace, allowing the pieces to organically fall into place. You'll always be at the edge of your seat. He's also thankfully dialed back quite a bit on the eccentric "quirky characters" and wonky dialog that have made his last few films somewhat unbearable, and it feels a bit more naturalistic as a result. In addition, I think his keen eye for visuals- which has always been one of his greatest strengths- is on full-display in this film. Despite being one of his lowest-budget features, the film is never anything less than slick and stylish, with the camera snaking along like a serpent ready to strike at any moment, and a chilling atmosphere of isolation and oppression established early on. This is also perfectly complimented by the moody and grungy soundtrack courtesy West Dylan Thordson, whose tones and themes match the picture perfectly. And then there's the big finale. I won't spoil it, but suffice to say my jaw was literally on the floor for the rest of the day. Just an astonishing climax. "Split" will no doubt go down as one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. It's a refreshing and much-needed return to form for director Shyamalan, and is definitely amongst his best work. It's thrilling. Exciting. Spellbinding. And incredibly eerie. While I did have some very minor issues with a few of the developments and the handling of a few key sequences, these faults were so small that they cannot detract from the otherwise completely enthralling experience. If you're one of those people who has dismissed Shyamalan's work or completely written him off, I beg you to give him another chance. Because "Split" is without question right up there with his excellent earlier work. I give it a fantastic 9 out of 10!

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Home and Drive-In Edition July 24, 2020: THE RENTAL, MOST WANTED, YES GOD YES, AMULET, RETALIATION and more

Are we all having fun yet? Does the fun ever truly begin when you’re in the middle of a pandemic, and no one can seem to figure out how to get out of it? While I love New York’s Governor Cuomo and the amazing job he did getting us through the worst of it, he just doesn’t seem to know how to get movie theaters reopened, nor does he seem to care. I mean, they’ve had four months now to figure this out and New York City is already in Phase 4 (which was supposed to be the last phase of the reopening).  It’s a real shame, because this has been a ridiculously hot summer and with none of the “cooling centers” from past summers being possible, it is brutal out there. Fortunately, there are a few decent movies this week to watch at home and some in the drive-ins that are popping up all over the country.

I gotta say that I’m particularly bummed that my favorite local theater, the Metrograph, won’t be opening any time soon, but starting Friday, they’ll be starting “Metrograph Live Screenings,” which will consist of the type of amazing programming the theater has gained a reputation for since opening four years ago. They are offering new “digital memberships” at $5 a month or $50 annually (about half the price of a normal membership) so that you can watch any of the movies being offered at home. The program begins on Friday with Claire Denis’ 2004 film, L’Intrus, which Metrograph Pictures picked up for release. That’s followed on Monday with St. Claire Bourne’s doc, Paul Robeson: Here I Stand.  You can see the full list of screening times and dates (many with filmmaker introductions) on the Official Site, and this will be a good time for those who can’t get downtown to the coolest area in New York City to check out the Metrograph programming until they reopen. (Apparently, they’re working on a drive-in to open sometime in August. Wish I had a car.)

If nothing else, it’s safe to say that IFC is killing it this summer. The indie distributor stepped right up to the pandemic and said, “Hey, we’ll play in those drive-in theaters that have mostly been ignored and didn’t play our films for decades!” It has led to at least two big hits in the past few months.

This week, IFC releases the horror/thriller THE RENTAL (IFC Films), the directorial debut by Dave Franco.  In it, brothers Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Josh (Jeremy Allen White) decide to take a weekend away with their significant others, Charlie’s wife Michelle (Allison Brie) and Josh’s girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand), who also happens to be Charlie’s creative work partner. They have found a remote house to rent, but they’re immediately suspicious of the caretaker (Toby Huss), who they think may be spying on them. He’s also racist towards Mina’s Arab lineage.

The premise seems fairly simple and actually quite high concept, and there have been quite a few thrillers that played with the premise of a creepy landlord/caretaker, including last year’s The Intruder, directed by Deon Taylor, and a lesser known thriller called The Resident, starring Hillary Swank and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Part of what makes The Rental different is that Franco co-wrote it with Joe Swanberg, so you know it’s going to be more of a character-based thriller than some kind of gorefest. Sure enough, this deals with the competitive nature between the brothers and the jealousy that arises when you have such a close working relationship with your brother’s girlfriend. It’s what happens between these two couples over the course of this vacation that makes you even more interested in their behavior after things start happening to them, but there’s a pretty major twist that happens just when you think you know where things may be going.

That’s all I really should say about the plot to avoid spoilers. Although the third act veers into the darker horror tropes we may have seen before, that’s also when it starts to get quite insane. Franco clearly shows he has the eye for the type of suspense and timing necessary for an effective thriller, and his cast, including wife Alison Brie, really deliver on all aspects of his script to deliver shocking moments that will keep you invested.

In some ways, The Rental might be the most obviously accessible movie of the weekend, and since it will be playing in drive-ins (and maybe a few still-open theaters?), it probably is worth seeing that way i.e. with others, although it will also be available via digital download, of course.

Another “Featured Flick” this week -- and I’m guessing this is one you won’t be reading about anywhere else --  is Daniel Roby’s MOST WANTED (Saban FIlms), a real-life crime-thriller starring Josh Hartnett as Globe and Mail journalist, Victor Malarek, who discovered that a French-Canadian junkie named Daniel Léger (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) had been sentenced to 100 years in a Thailand prison for drug trafficking in 1989.  As Daniel attempts to survive the violent conditions of the Thai jail, Victor tries to uncover the crooked practices by the Canadian federal police to get Daniel imprisoned for their own means.

This is one of two Saban Films releases that really surprised me, maybe because I’ve gotten so used to them releasing so much action and genre schlock meant mainly for VOD, usually starring fairly big-name action stars from the past, usually not doing their best work. Most Wanted is a far more serious crime-drama that tells an absolutely amazing story from North America’s famed war on drugs from the ‘80s. First, we meet Antoine-Olivier Pilon’s Daniel, a lowlife junkie who is trying to find a place to live and a job, something he finds when he gets into business with Jim Gaffigan’s Glenn Picker, a complete low-life in every sense of the word. It’s funny, because when Gaffigan’s character is introduced, you’re immediately reminded of the famous “Sister Christian” in PT Anderson’s Boogie Nights, and as we watch Picker completely humiliate and then betray Daniel, you realize that we might be seeing one of Gaffigan’s best performances to date.

What keeps Most Wanted interesting is that it tells the story on a number of concurrent storylines, ignoring the fact that one of the threads might be taking place years before the other. Through this method, we see how Daniel begins working with Glenn, while also seeing Victor’s investigation, as well as the sting operation being perpetrated by the Canadian feds, as represented by the always great Stephen McHattie. (McHattie’s appearance is also a telltale sign that this is indeed a Canadian production, as is the role played by author and filmmaker Don McKellar.)  I’ve always feltHarnett was a really underrated actor especially as he got into his 30s and started doing more mature roles, and while his reporter character may not always be the central focus of the story, his attempt to get his editor to respect his work is something far too familiar to far too many writers. One also can’t sleep on the fantastic performance by Antoine-Olivier Pilon, who really holds the film together by starting out as a scumbag almost as bad as Picker but through his troubles to survive in Thai jail, we start to become really invested in his story. (The only character who doesn’t get nearly as fulfilling a story arc is Amanda Crew as Victor’s wife Anna who gives birth just as he gets involved in this major story.)

I wasn’t at all familiar with Daniel Roby’s previous work but the way he broke this story down in a way that keeps it interesting, regardless of which story you’re following, makes Most Wanted as good or better than similar films by far more experienced and respected filmmakers. (For some reason, it made me think of both The Departed and Black Mass, both movies about Whitey Bulger, although Daniel’s story is obviously very different.)

Okay, let’s get into a trio of religious-tinged offerings…

Natalia Dyer from Stranger Things stars in YES, GOD, YES (Vertical Entertainment), the semi-autobiographical directorial debut by Obvious Child co-writer Karen Maine (expanded from an earlier short), which will open via virtual cinemas this Friday as well as at a few drive-ins, and then it will be available via VOD and digital download on Tuesday, July 28. The coming-of-age comedy debuted at last year’s SXSW Film Festival and won a Special Jury Prize for its ensemble cast. Dyer plays sixteen-year-old Alice, a good Midwestern Catholic teenager, who has a sexual awakening after a racy AOL chat. Wracked by guilt, Alice attends a religious retreat camp where the cute football player (Wolfgang Novogratz) catches her eye, but she constantly feels pressure to quell her masturbatory urges.

I’m not sure I really knew what to expect from Ms. Maine’s feature film debut as a director. I certainly didn’t expect to enjoy this movie as much as I did, nor did I think I would relate to Dyer’s character as much as I did --  I’ve never been a teen girl, nor have I ever been Catholic, and by the early ‘00s, I was probably closer to the age that Maine is now versus being a teenager discovering her sexuality. In fact, I probably was expecting something closer to the Mandy Moore comedy Saved!, which was definitely more about religion than one character’s sexual journey.

Either way, I went into Yes, God, Yes already realizing what a huge fan I am of coming-of-age stories, and while there were certainly that seemed familiar to other films, such as Alice’s inadvertent AIM with an online pervert early in the film. Even so, Maine did enough with the character of Alice to keep it feeling original with the humor being subdued while definitely more on the R-rated side of things. On top of that, Dyer was quite brilliant in the role, just a real break-through in a similar way as Kaitlyn Dever in Book Smart last year. (Granted, I’m so behind on Stranger Things, I don’t think I’ve even gotten to Dyer’s season.) The only other familiar face is Timothy Simons from Veep as the super-judgmental (and kinda pervy) priest who Alice has to turn to when confessing her sins. (A big part of the story involves a rumor started about Alice and a sex act she committed on a fellow student that keeps coming up.)

Yes, God, Yes proves to be quite a striking dramedy that I hope more people will check out. I worry that because this may have been covered out of last year’s SXSW, it might not get the new and updated attention it deserves. Certainly, I was pleasantly surprised with what Maine and Dyer did with a genre that still has a lot to tell us about growing up and discovering oneself. (You can find out where you can rent the movie digitally over on the Official Site.)

Another horror movie that premiered at this year’s Sundance is AMULET (Magnet), the directorial debut by British actor Romola Garai, who also wrote the screenplay. It stars Romanian actor Alec Secareanu as Tomaz, a former soldier who is offered a place to stay in a dilapidated house in London with a young woman named Magda (Carla Juri from Blade Runner 2049) and her ill and dying mother. As Tomaz starts to fall for Magda, he discovers there are sinister forces afoot in the house with Magda’s mother upstairs being at their core.

I was kind of interested in this one, not just because it being Garai’s first feature as a filmmaker but also just because Sundance has such a strong pedigree for midnight movies, probably culminating in the premiere of Ari Aster’s Hereditary there a few years back. It feels like ever since then, there are many movies trying to follow in that movie’s footsteps, and while this was a very different movie from the recent Relic, it had its own set of issues.

The main issue with Amulet is that it deliberately sets itself up with a confusing narrative where we see Tomaz in the present day and in the past concurrently, so it’s very likely you won’t know what you’re watching for a good 20 minutes or so. Once Tomaz gets to the house, escorted there by a nun played by Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), the movie settles down into a grueling pace as the main two characters get to know each other and Tomaz explores the incongruities of the decaying house.

Honestly, I’m already pretty burnt out on the religious horror movies between The Lodge and the still-unreleased Saint Maud, and the first inclination we get of any of the true horror to come is when Tomaz discovers some sort of mutated bat-like creature in the toilet, and things get even more disturbing from there. Although I won’t go into too many details about what happens, the movie suffers from some of the same issues as Relic where it���s often too dark to tell exactly what is happening. As it goes along, things just get weirder and weirder right up until a “what the fuck” moment that could have come from the mind of David Lynch.

I don’t want to completely disregard Garai’s fine work as a filmmaker since she’s made a mostly compelling and original horror movie – I have a feeling some might love this -- but the grueling pace and confusing narrative turns don’t really do justice to what might have been a chilling offering otherwise.

Going by the title and the fact it’s being released by Saban Films, I presumed that Ludwig and Paul Shammasian’s RETALIATION (Saban Films/Lionsgate) was gonna be a violent and gritty crime revenge thriller, but nothing could be further from the truth. Adapted by Geoff Thompson from his 2008 short film “Romans 12:20,” it stars Orlando Bloom as Malcolm, a troubled ex-con doing demolition work while fighting against his demons when he spots someone in the pub from his past that caused a severe childhood trauma.

This is another movie that I really didn’t know what to expect, even as it began and we followed Bloom’s character over the course of a day, clearly a very troubled man who has been dealing with many personal demons. Make no mistake that this is a tough movie, and it’s not necessarily a violent genre movie, as much as it deals with some heavy HEAVY emotions in a very raw way.

Honestly, I could see Geoff Thompson’s screenplay easily being performed on stage, but the way the Shammasian Brothers have allowed Malcolm’s story to slowly build as we learn more and more about his past makes the film so compelling, but they also let their actors really shine with some of the stunning monologues with which they’re blessed. While this is clearly a fantastic and possibly career-best performance by Bloom, there are also good performances by Janet Montgomery, as the woman who loves Malcolm but just can’t handle his mood changes. Also good is Charlie Creed-Miles, as the young priest who tries to help Malcolm.

I can easily see this film not being for everybody, because some of the things the film deals with, including pedophile priests and the effects their actions have on the poor, young souls who put their faith in them, they’re just not things people necessarily may want to deal with. Make no mistake that Retaliation is an intense character drama that has a few pacing issues but ultimately hits the viewer right in the gut.

A movie I had been looking forward to quite some time is the Marie Currie biopic, RADIOACTIVE (Amazon Prime), directed by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and starring the wondrous Rosamund Pike as the famed scientist who helped discover radiation. Based on Lauren Redniss’ book, this is the type of Working Title biopic that would normally premiere in the Fall at the Toronto Film Festival, and sure enough, this one did. The fact it wasn’t released last year makes one think maybe this didn’t fare as well as potential awards fodder as the filmmakers hoped. It’s also the type of movie that works too hard to cater to the feminist resurgence from recent years, which ultimately ends up being its undoing.

The problem with telling Marie Currie’s story is that there’s so much to tell and Redniss’ book as adapted by Jack Thorne just tries to fit too much into every moment as years pass in mere minutes. There’s so much of Marie’s life that just isn’t very interesting, but trying to include all of it just takes away from the scenes that do anything significant. Maybe it’s no surprise that Thorne also wrote The Aeronauts, Amazon’s 2019 ballooning biopic that failed to soar despite having Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones as its leads.

I’m a similarly huge Rosamund Pike fan, so I was looking forward to her shining in this role, but she does very little to make Marie Currie someone you might want to follow, as she’s so headstrong and stubborn. This is the most apparent when she meets Pierre Currie, as played by Sam Riley, and maybe you don’t blame her for being cynical, having had much of her work either discredited or stolen by men in the past. Shockingly, Pike’s performance seems all over the place, sometimes quite moving but other times being overly emotive. Almost 90 minutes into the movie, Anya Taylor-Joy turns up as Curie’s grown daughter, and it’s one of the film’s biggest infraction, wasting such great talent in such a nothing role.

While Radioactive could have been a decent vehicle for Ms. Satrapi to flex her muscles as a filmmaker, the movie spends so much time having Currie fighting against the male-dominated science field that it loses sight of why she was such an important figure in the first place. Radioactive just comes across as a generally bland and unimaginative by-the-books biopic.

Also on Digital and On Demand this Friday is Chris Foggin’s FISHERMAN’S FRIENDS (Samuel Goldwyn Films), another quaint British comedy based on a true story, much like the recent Military Wives. Rather than being about a group of singing women, this one is about a group of singing men! What a twist!

Daniel Mays plays Danny, a music biz exec from London who travels to the seaside town of Port Isaac, Cornwall with some of his record company coworkers. Once there, they discover a local group of singing local fisherman, known as “Fisherman’s Friends,” who Danny wants to sign to a label. He also wants to get closer to Tuppence Middleton’s single mother Alwyn, who, no surprise, is also the only pleasant-looking younger woman in the town.

Fisherman’s Friends isn’t bad, but if you’ve seen a lot of British movies from the last few decades, then you’ve already seen this movie, particularly the “fish out of water” humor of a guy from the big city trying to relate to the down-to-earth ways of folk in a fishing village. It’s the type of really forced humor that is perfectly pleasant but not particularly groundbreaking in this day and age with so many filmmakers trying to do cutting-edge work.

Instead, this goes for a very typical and cutesie formula where everything works out with very little real conflict even when it throws in a needless subplot about the local pub falling on hard times and selling to a rich man who has little regard for the ways o the town.  On top of that, and even if this wasn’t based on a true story, it’s very hard to believe anyone in the music industry or who buys records would be that interested in this group to make them worth signing a million-pound record deal. (Apparently, this really happened!)

I think it’s adorable that filmmakers are trying to turn character actor Daniel Mays (who you’ve seen in everything!) into a romantic lead, especially when you have James Purefoy right there! Instead, 56-year-old Purefoy is instead cast as Middleton’s father, while she’s put into a situation where she’s the love interest for a man that’s 23 years her elder. This kind of thing rarely bothers me as it does many younger female critics, but their romance is just ridiculous and unnecessary if not for the formula. As much as I enjoyed seeing Dave Johns from I, Daniel Blake as one of the singing fishermen, there really isn’t much for him to do in this.

If you like sea shanties and you are a woman over 60 (or have a mother that age) then Fisherman’s Friends is a cute butnever particularly hilarious British comedy that tries to be The Full Monty. But it never really tries to be anything more or less than the formula created by that movie 23 years ago, so it’s quickly forgotten after its saccharine finale.

Unfortunately, I just wasn’t able to get THE ROOM (Shudder/RLJE Films), the live action directing debut from Christin Volckman (Renaissance), but it’s now available on VOD, Digital HD, DVD AND Blu-Ray! It stars Olga Kurylenko and Kevin Janssens as a couple who leave the city to move into a an old house where they discover a secret hidden room that has the power to materialize anything they want, but this is a horror film, so what might seem like a fairy tale is likely to get dark. (I actually think I saw the trailer for this on Shudder, so I’ll probably check it out, and if it’s worth doing so, I’ll mention it in next week’s column.)

Yet another horror movie hitting On Demand this Friday is Pamela Moriarty’s A DEADLY LEGEND (Gravitas Ventures) that stars Corbin Bensen as a real estate developer who buys an old summer camp to build new homes unaware of the dark history of supernatural worship and human sacrifice. I’m gonna take the fifth on this one, which also stars Judd Hirsch and Lori Petty.

Available via Virtual Cinema through New York’s Film Forum and L.A.’s Laemmle is Gero von Boehm’s documentary, Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful (Kino Lorber), about the photographer who had a nearly five-decade career before dying in a car crash in 2006.

From Colombia to various Virtual Cinemas is Catalina Arroyave’s debut, Days of the Whale (Outsider Pictures) set in the city of Medellin, where it follows two young graffiti artists, Cristina and Simon, who tag places around where they live but coming from very different backgrounds, but they eventually bond while part of a revolutionary art collective.

Danny Pudi from Community and Emily C. Chang from The Vampire Diaries star in Sam Friedlander’s comedy Babysplitters (Gravitas Ventures) as one of two couples who have mixed emotions about having kids, so they decided to share one baby between them. Okay, then.

Netflix will also debut the rom-com sequel, The Kissing Booth 2, once again starring Joey King as Ellie, who is trying to juggle her long-distance romance with Jacob Erlodi’s Noah and her close friendship with Joel Courtney’s Lee.  I haven’t seen the first movie. Probably won’t watch this one.

Next week, more movies in a variety of theatrical and non-theatrical release!

If you’ve read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com, or tweet me on Twitter. I love hearing from my “readers,” whomever they may be.’